Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Johan Ackermann predicts bright future for Wales prospect Louis Rees-Zammit

By Online Editors
Gloucester teenager Louis Rees-Zammet scores one of two tries against Worcester. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Gloucester boss Johan Ackermann lavished praise on teenage wing Louis Rees-Zammit after the Welshman cut loose against Premiership opponents Worcester.

ADVERTISEMENT

The 18-year-old scored two tries and set up another in Gloucester’s 36-3 win at Kingsholm.

And his performance did little to lower excitement levels about the Wales Under-18 international ahead of this season’s Six Nations.

Continue reading below…

Video Spacer

“International rugby is a big step up. The best of the best play there, and time will tell,” Ackermann said.

“The first thing is for him to play well for Gloucester, and if he does get invited into the Wales group, they will compare him with what they have and then he has to prove himself.

“He has definitely got the skill, but in international rugby everything is faster.

“He is good enough. He has got size, he’s a young guy and he has got the mental toughness. It’s just to get the formula right and the pathway right for him.

“I think it’s great for him where he is in his career. He is young and playing good rugby.

“When you play a young player, you see a lot of good things in training and you hope he can transfer that onto the playing field.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I didn’t think he had all the opportunities in his first few games, and people didn’t really see why we played him, but in the last two weeks he has started showing some of those things when he gets space.

“He is a confident guy. When you speak to him he is up to the challenge, he is engaging with his conversations and he has the confidence to try things on the field, and that’s what you need at this level.”

Gloucester climbed to third place in the Premiership after sinking Worcester following a second-half scoring burst.

They made hard work of it for an hour, but four tries in 12 minutes forced the Warriors to surrender as Gloucester triumphed in bonus-point fashion.

ADVERTISEMENT

Rees-Zammit apart, centre Chris Harris, flanker Ruan Ackermann and number eight Ben Morgan also touched down, with Danny Cipriani adding four conversions and a penalty to give Gloucester their first league victory since they defeated Wasps in late October.

Worcester were on the board first with a Duncan Weir penalty but conceded 36 unanswered points as Gloucester surged clear in the second half on the back of Rees-Zammit’s excellence.

“We would have taken any result tonight,” Johan Ackermann added. “The fact we got the five points is a plus. It was a tough game.

“You must work really hard to get your points against them (Worcester). Although it was 3-3 at half-time, we felt if we could be a bit more accurate, it would come.”

Worcester rugby director Alan Solomons, meanwhile, had no complaints after seeing his side well beaten.

“We didn’t have field position, we didn’t have possession of the ball and all the points came in the last 20 minutes,” he said.

“When you are stuck in your half and you are just defending, eventually it is going to lead to the other side scoring points, and that is exactly what happened.

“That is the price you pay for not having the field possession or the ball. We just tackled all night.

“You have got to give credit to Gloucester, they played really well. They hung on to the ball, and eventually the opportunities came for them.”

– Press Association

In other news:

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 9 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”?

35 Go to comments
FEATURE
FEATURE Andy Christie: 'Diversity breeds strength in a group rather than weakness' Andy Christie: 'Diversity breeds strength in a group rather than weakness'
Search