Another Lion opens up on NFL trial to make LRZ-style switch

Former Wales, and British and Irish Lions wing Alex Cuthbert has revealed that he had a trial to make a potential switch to American football almost a decade ago, but admitted he did “badly”.

The 35-year-old, who officially retired from rugby in September, recently discussed his former team-mate Louis Rees-Zammit’s move to the NFL, and subsequent return to rugby union, when appearing as a guest on the latest episode of Stick to Rugby.

Cuthbert described Rees-Zammit’s move as a “win-win,” adding that he knows “for a fact he would have come back a far more professional athlete than he was.”

The former Cardiff, Exeter and Ospreys wide man also admitted to doing a “little trial” in 2017, with the aim to presumably join the International Player Pathway programme like Rees-Zammit did.

The wing did the trial on a day off before a Six Nations game, which was perhaps why the trial did not go as planned.

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“He knows what he can do,” the 2013 Lion said of his former team-mate Rees-Zammit. “He knows his point of difference — his speed. I thought when he went to the NFL, it was a win-win. He’s a young lad with an unbelievable opportunity. To go and play in the NFL? Come one! If anyone asks why he did it, he couldn’t have gone at a better time, in terms of the way Wales were playing. Even if he was playing, I’ll be honest, he wasn’t doing anything the way we were playing.

“Him coming back now is like a rejuvenation for Welsh rugby. He is a pin-up boy of Welsh rugby and at a good club in Bristol, with the way they want to play. I know for a fact he would have come back a far more professional athlete than he was. He was pretty laid back, he relied on his skill sets, but that NFL model — knowing everything you’re running and training — he would have learnt an awful lot. He was only 21, I know exactly how he was feeling, he was feeling he was the dog’s bollocks, didn’t need to do the extras, whereas now he’s seen it on another level. NFL athletes are on a different planet.

“I did [have a trial], in 2016–17. I did a little trial in Watford, at the Tottenham Hotspur training ground. I actually did really badly, I did it on a Wednesday on a day off before a Six Nations game, which was a bit mental. The 40-yard dash, jump, I was going as a tight end. I was umming and erring because I was out of contract and it was like the fourth game of the Six Nations. Obviously Zam left before the Six Nations, so obviously he had quite a lot of time before the combine, I don’t think I would have had enough time. Those guys, tight ends, are freaks.”