Louis Rees-Zammit: Comeback game confirmed as ‘impressive’ star ‘chops’ weight ahead of rugby return

Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam spoke to reporters on Wednesday at the Prem launch in Twickenham, as he looked ahead to an exciting season filled with new signings set to light up Ashton Gate.

At the launch was the talented Kiwi-born Scotland star Tom Jordan, who recently joined from Glasgow Warriors following three seasons in the Scottish city, with the versatile star appearing to be settling in nicely at the Bears.

Lam told reporters: “Tom Jordan started a couple of weeks ago, and you can already see his class. He’s been running at 10 to get a good handle on the game plan. AJ MacGinty joined us this week, so Tom was then able to go between 10, full-back and 12, which is part of his attraction.”

Jordan isn’t the only high-profile arrival at the Bears High-Performance Centre this summer. In fact, Bristol collected the most sought-after free agent on the market, with Welshman Louis Rees-Zammit joining the ranks, and according to Lam, he’s already impressing.

“Louis Rees-Zammit, man, he is quick,” said Lam. “Some of the things he’s done in training are what we’ve seen in his highlights reel and what’s exciting about him. Some of the things he’s done in training are just impressive.”

There’s been plenty said about Rees-Zammit’s speed since he first burst onto the Gloucester turf as an electric teenager, but just how fast is he? Well, we know he’s hit a hand-timed 10.44 100 metre sprint in the past, but does he still have that in his locker?

According to Lam, the 24-year-old is far and away the fastest in the Bears squad.

“Jack Bates is up there, he’s pretty fast as well, and got some quick nines, and there’s some quick backs, but he’s the fastest, 100%.”

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Louis Rees-Zammit’s return to rugby

Despite being as athletic as ever, it’s worth noting that Rees-Zammit has been away from rugby for roughly 18 months now, so his return to the game will take some adjusting.

“He’s already said publicly that he needs to chop some weight, which he’s already done and has a bit more to do,” said the Bears boss.

“In the first two training sessions, he was blowing really hard and just getting back into rugby training. Certainly in our back three, there’s more work rate in there, but over the last couple of weeks, you can see the improvement coming in there as well.

“I want to make sure that he’s in the right place before that first Prem game, because there’s gonna be so much attention on him. But every day he’s getting better.”

It’s a rather unique challenge for Lam and his fellow coaches, transitioning a man back into a sport after spending time trying his hand at another, but the 56-year-old believes Rees-Zammit is making good progress.

“We talk about 1000 touches a week. He’s finished training with a lot of skill work, which is what we do anyway, so he’s had his hand on the ball a lot more. He’s had a lot of work on cohesion with the other guys. Him and Gabs Ibitoye together are training well, one creating for the other, so that was exciting.”

Admitting that he’d have preferred to have his new winger involved in a couple of pre-season games, Lam confirmed that he will use the Prem Cup opener away to Sale Sharks as the Welsh winger’s first test.

Bristol Bears’ misfortunes

With the arrival of Rees-Zammit to Ashton Gate, many wondered how it would affect the Bears’ expansive playing style, whether it would step up another level, or, to ensure better success, would they approach the game more pragmatically? Well, according to Lam, their attack will not change, but their defence is being heavily altered.

“Our strength is not actually running everything; it’s about what’s on, it’s being fearless,” he said.

“The biggest thing that we have worked on is our defence. We’re not proud of our defence. I went back and did some stats in the Prem, and even when we were top of the table, our attacking stats were nowhere near as good as they are now, but our defence was right up there.

“It’s not rocket science, we’ve got to be able to sort that. So we’ve spent a lot of time on our defence, going right back to basics. Jordan Crane and I have been working on all of that, and I’m really pleased to say we’ve done a lot of work on high balls as well.

“I look at the work we’ve done now, and I see that as a coaching issue. Because my question is: Have I given our players the best opportunity for us to defend as a team? Have we given ourselves the best opportunity to win high balls? So we planned our pre-season around those areas.”

Bristol Bears have historically been the ‘nearly men’, never quite winning the titles, but Lam wants to get his side back in the mix.

“All of us want to win. Bristol has never been in the final in its whole history, and we’ve done three semis since I’ve been here now. And like everyone, we want to get to that next stage of winning,” he said.

“So the first thing is to get to the top four and then go from there.”

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