Wales rugby union star Louis Rees-Zammit, one of the world’s most exciting players, is quitting the sport to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL.
The 22-year-old Rees-Zammit has accepted an invitation to join the NFL’s international player pathway, his English club Gloucester said on Tuesday.
Wales coach Warren Gatland said Rees-Zammit, who is a winger and has scored 14 tries in 31 matches for his country, was approached on Sunday about trying out the NFL’s program.
Photo: AP
Gatland said he did not know about the player’s decision until Tuesday, hours before announcing Wales’ squad for the upcoming Six Nations tournament — a group Rees-Zammit would have been part of.
“I have had the incredible honor of playing rugby for my country which, as a proud Welshman, I’ve never taken for granted,” Rees-Zammit said. “However, I believe that this is the right time for me to realize another professional goal of playing American football in the US. Those opportunities don’t come around very often.”
Rees-Zammit made his debut for Wales in 2020, playing in the World Cup last year, and was in the British & Irish Lions squad — made up of the best rugby players in Britain and Ireland — for the tour of South Africa in 2021. Picked at the age of 20, he was the youngest player to be selected by the Lions since 1959.
The 1.9m Rees-Zammit is one of the quickest and most elusive broken-field runners in European rugby, averaging an English league-high 1.6 line breaks per match for Gloucester since the start of last season. Weighing an estimated 95.25kg, he is also a strong tackler, with wingers needing to be as active in defense as attack in rugby.
He is reportedly earning ￡225,000 (US$284,572) a year at Gloucester, where his contract was due to expire at the end of this season. He was expected to make more if he extended his deal at Gloucester or moved to a new club for next season, with the world’s best rugby players earning about ￡1 million a year. The minimum NFL salary this season is US$750,000.
Rees-Zammit wrote on social media that he was not retiring from rugby.
“Rather at this age and stage of my life, I am excited to explore a unique challenge that has the potential to diversify my skill set,” said Rees-Zammit, whose father played American football in Wales for the Cardiff Bay Tigers.
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