Louis Rees-Zammit is officially returning to the wing this season for both club and country, after spending a significant chunk of last campaign at full-back. The 25-year-old talent, who made his comeback to rugby last summer after nearly two years away chasing an NFL career, confirmed his primary position will be the wing with the flexibility to cover full-back. This is big, because the numbers from last season practically scream for this move.
Why the Wing is Where He Belongs
Last season, Rees-Zammit was consistently deployed at full-back by Bristol boss Pat Lam and Wales head coach Steve Tandy, especially from the autumn. He knew it wouldn’t be his best year, battling back from two years out of the game and then learning a new position on the fly. He said it was “hard to settle in” playing three-quarters of the season at full-back, a role he’d never really done before.
And the stats back him up. Out of his 22 starts last season for club and country, 12 were at full-back (number 15) and 10 were on the wing (number 14). He bagged nine tries in total, seven for Bristol and two for Wales. But here’s the kicker: after he made that positional switch, only *one* of those nine tries came during 2026, and that was when he was back on the wing away at Northampton in May. In fact, a whopping six of his nine tries last season were scored while he was playing on the wing. He put it plainly: “I just feel like at 15 you’re not as much of a finisher than you are on the wing and that’s what I like to be known as.” The man wants to finish, and the wing is where he does it best.
Bristol’s Playoff Hopes Hang on Finishing Strong
Rees-Zammit enters the 2026-27 season with a full summer of preparation under his belt, though he did miss Bristol’s initial training block in July while he was with Wales for the Nations’ Championship. His club, the Bears, had a bittersweet finish last season, landing sixth in the table and missing the play-offs by nine points after a dip in form during the spring. They matched Exeter’s 11 wins, who finished third and even reached the final before losing to Northampton.
But as Rees-Zammit himself noted, simply winning games isn’t enough. “Last year ultimately we fell short of our goal,” he stated, adding, “Although we won the same amount as [third] place, we didn’t score enough tries, we didn’t have enough bonus points and that’s something we’re going to try and work on and try and fix for this season.” Getting their premier finisher back to his preferred position on the wing? That’s got to be a massive step toward fixing that try-scoring deficit. This season, expect Rees-Zammit to be hungry, back in his element, and ready to get on the end of those scoring chances for Bristol and Wales. It’s go time.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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