Cardiff (United Kingdom) (AFP)
The youthful face of Louis Rees-Zammit, 20, has become in the course of his lightning races since the start of the Six Nations Tournament that of the unexpected rebound of a Wales at the gates of the Grand Slam before moving to France on Saturday evening.
When "LRZ" was first called to the Welsh band last year, stainless Alun Wyn Jones went, out of curiosity, to take a look at a musical compilation of the young winger's year of birth, 2001. . "It was not a great vintage. I think it was + Stronger + Britney Spears", then joked the second line of 35 years to 147 selections with the XV du Leek.
The emergence of Rees-Zammit has given a serious blow of old to the executives of the last decade (Wyn Jones, Biggar, Davies, Halfpenny ...), which we thought to be out of breath after their poor 2020 Tournament, completed in the penultimate place.
It also gave them a boost and the hope of a Grand Slam on which no one, even in the Principality, would have really bet this year.
The figurehead of the new Welsh generation is, along with the Englishman Anthony Watson, the co-top scorer of the Tournament, with four tries in as many matches, including a decisive double against Scotland (25-24) and an 80-meter sprint last weekend in Italy (48-7), on an interception.
Compared to his compatriot George North in terms of precocity, Rees-Zammit is also compared to his English teammate of Gloucester Jonny May for his burst of speed, which the Welsh nugget says he inherited from his father, Joe, a former football player. American of Maltese descent.
- Coveted by England -
Her mother Maxine played netball, a basketball-like sport very popular in the UK with women, and her uncle Paul Rees played high-level rugby under the Cardiff RFC colors in the 1980s.
Nicknamed "Rees-Lightning" ("Rees the Lightning"), little Louis planted his first trials in an affluent area of the Welsh capital, Llandaff, before leaving the family nest at the age of 16 to join, a hundred kilometers away, England and the prestigious Hartpury College, a factory for champions.
The well-bred, slightly introverted, well-bred boy was quickly noticed by the training center of neighboring Gloucester, where he became, at 18 years and 70 days, the youngest player to wear the jersey. striped in Premiership.
The precocious talent of Rees-Zammit, who is also the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the English league, has not escaped Eddie Jones either: the XV de la Rose manager himself called the winger prodigy to probe him on his desires to one day represent England, his country of residence.
"Rees the lightning" politely rejected his approaches and had against France in October the first of his eight caps to date with Wales (for five tries).
Then invited as a hazing to sing in front of his teammates, he chose "Angels" by Robbie Williams.
To hell with Britney Spears.
© 2021 AFP