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Home or Holm? The impending Louis Rees-Zammit contract flashpoint

By Alex Shaw
Getty Images

After seven rounds of the Gallagher Premiership season and four rounds of European competition, few players have lit up rugby in the northern hemisphere like 18-year-old Louis Rees-Zammit.

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The young Welshman is in his first year of professional rugby, having graduated from Gloucester’s junior academy and Hartpury College last season. Thanks to various injuries in the back line, Rees-Zammit has not been short of a game time in his debut season.

The wing is currently tied with Ben Earl atop the Premiership’s try scorers list having crossed the whitewash five times and he has not looked out of his depth at all, as Gloucester seek to consolidate their place in the tournament’s playoff positions.

He has been talked about as a bolter for Wayne Pivac’s Wales squad for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations and should he make that cut and receive his first senior cap, both the WRU and Gloucester have an interesting dilemma ahead of them.

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Should Rees- Zammit be capped, he would be obligated to return to Wales at the conclusion of his current contract if he wishes to continue playing for Wales, provided a Welsh region made him an offer that was realistically comparable to what he was being offered outside of Wales. The only players exempt from this rule are those with 60 or more international caps.

Exeter Chiefs tighthead Tomas Francis had exploited a loophole in this regulation, with his prolonged deals with Exeter deemed to be a contract extension, rather than a new contract, something that keeps him eligible for Welsh selection, despite not having yet met the 60-cap threshold.

In terms of Rees-Zammit, who is only on his first contract out of school, should that Wales cap come before Gloucester hand him a new deal, it would be unlikely that any extension at the club would follow suit with Francis, with the youngster likely eyeing a significant wage hike the next time he signs new terms.

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Louis Rees-Zammit
Louis Rees-Zammit

The immediate consequence of this for Gloucester is whether or not to hand him a long-term contract that is more lucrative than the one he is on. This would see him locked down at Kingsholm for a number of years and not required to return to Wales until the end of the deal, at which point the current regulations may have changed or been scrapped altogether, with the WRU announcing earlier this year that the rule would be reviewed after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

The other option is that Gloucester stay the course and hope that Rees-Zammit does not receive an early Wales cap come the Six Nations.

The dilemma is reversed for Pivac and the WRU who may feel that Rees-Zammit is still too young for international rugby, but who could secure his future in Wales with an early cap, strengthening one of the regions moving forward and helping provide a positive return on the number of Welsh youngsters heading to English schools as teenagers.

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Wales and the regions do not lack for resources on the wing, with the likes of George North and Josh Adams having made their way back across the Severn in recent years, as well as the rises of talents such as Owen Lane and Ryan Conbeer, although a player as potentially dynamic and explosive as Rees-Zammit represents a salivating option.

An early return to Wales would also ensure that the national team have full access to Rees-Zammit as he develops, rather than in England, where he would only be released during international windows, unless Gloucester were willing to receive a fine for releasing him outside of the window.

With his development continuing rapidly at the moment, both sides may be willing to carry on as is, although there is likely a flashpoint fast approaching, with the Six Nations just over a month away.

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 12 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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