Welsh rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit is set to play his first game of rugby in almost two years later this month.
16:49, 06 Sep 2025Updated 17:41, 06 Sep 2025
This was the moment Louis Rees-Zammit stepped on the gas and raced away from his teammates. (Image: Bristol Bears Rugby via Louis Rees-Zammit’s Instagram story. )
Wales international Louis Rees-Zammit scored a wonder try in training for Bristol Bears ahead of the new PREM Rugby season. The Bristol Bears footage, posted by the 24-year-old on his Instagram story, shows him using the electric pace we all know him for.
The Penarth-born winger has returned from his American football venture and is signed with west country outfit Bears for the 2025/2026 season. Should he get selected against Leicester Tigers later this month, it will be his first game of rugby since the 2023 World Cup, when he faced Argentina with Wales.
The try from Rees-Zammit in training is reminiscent of his effort against Scotland in the 2021 Six Nations, which ended up winning the ‘Try of the Tournament’. This was, of course, the last year that Wales won the Six Nations.
In the training footage, the former Jacksonville Jaguars player collects the ball on the right wing, before producing a perfect chip and chase around his opponent.
He collects the ball impressively and uses his raw gas to burn past the final defender. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
Rees-Zammit has put on a lot of muscle since he tried his hand at American football, but the Welshman told the media in August that despite this, he still retained his electric speed.
“I got up to like 105 kilos and my playing weight in rugby was probably about 96,” he said at the Bears’ training centre.
“Over the last couple of months I have really got myself back to about 100kg and now I am actually doing rugby training, I think I can get straight back down to that 96-98 kilo range and that is probably perfect for me.”
Asked about whether the weight gain affected his speed, he said: “On stats it didn’t, I was still hitting 23mph at 105 kilos so it was just the amount of conditioning, they don’t do that much because plays last four to six seconds in the NFL so it is not something they need to have.
“It is all about repeated sprints for the wide receivers.
“Playing rugby it is different, you have got to be very fit because the ball in play, if that gets high you are going to be running around a lot.
“Weight never affected my speed, it is just that body-wise I was quite skinny playing rugby, in my upper body, and that is going to help me with collisions coming back.”
During his first stint in Test rugby, Rees-Zammit was clocked running at 24mph against Fiji, where he scored a wonder try at the Principality Stadium.
Bears and Rees-Zammit’s first game of the PREM Rugby season against Tigers is on September 28 at 3.30pm, it will also be a home game at Ashton Gate.
The speedster will be aiming to put on good show in the opening few games of the English season, with the goal that he can earn a call-up to Wales for the autumn internationals in November.