Pat Lam to consider Louis Rees-Zammit positional tweak

Bristol Bears Director of Rugby Pat Lam says he will consider playing flying winger Louis Rees-Zammit at full-back at some point down the line.

With Rich Lane and Noah Heward, the Bears’ established full-backs, still working their way back from injury, new signing Tom Jordan played 15 in last weekend’s PREM Rugby Cup win at Gloucester.

Jordan has impressed everyone at the Bears since moving down from Glasgow, but his ability to play right across the line at 10, 12, even 13, as well as full-back, may result in him being pressed into action elsewhere if injuries and unavailability stretch their small squad.

Rees-Zammit started at full-back in three of his 32 Test appearances for Wales before he went to America to try his luck in the NFL, and also played a couple of EPCR Challenge Cup games there in his final season at Gloucester. However, the 24-year-old’s only previous Premiership start at full-back was actually against Bristol in August 2020.

“He’s definitely an option there,” Lam told the media today.

“The big thing with Louis is he gets more running time in his legs; he is getting better every time. But our back three run a lot and there is a lot of running in our game.

“His number one position is wing, and we’ll give him a fair opportunity to get a lot of time in there. But it’s something that we’ll consider later on down the line as well.”

Louis Rees-Zammit becoming reacquainted with his former Gloucester teammates on an eventful debut for the new Bristol Bears flyer 🍿pic.twitter.com/XIx9gmqDYf

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Rees-Zammit showed he has not lost any of his pace or finishing ability by making a try-scoring return against his former club at Kingsholm.

And Lam said that the Wales winger is very much in his plans for the visit of Leicester on Sunday, despite having only just returned to rugby after 18 months out of the game.

“He is ready, fit and available,” said Lam.

“I am really proud of him. Every day he has got better and better and better. I know that match-wise, he still has a bit more to come, but where he is now compared to where he was when he first arrived is huge.

“The more he trains, the more he plays, naturally, he is going to get fitter. I believe there is still more to come from him in that sense.

As for Jordan, Lam recognises the same qualities in the Scotland international as he does in the Bears’ US Eagles star, AJ MacGinty.

“He is class at 10, he is class at 12, he is class at full-back. I agree with Gregor Townsend, who believes he could play at 13.

“The big thing with Tom is his mindset; nothing fazes him, and he is a great communicator.

“When I saw him play for Glasgow, I certainly saw a lot of AJ MacGinty in the sense that he is abrasive, tough, they’re both great defenders, really good organisers of men and drivers of game plans.

“Since he has been here, he has lived up to my expectations, and the players are wowed by his ability to drive the guys around him.

“I just spoke with Benhard Janse van Rensburg, talking about training. I said, ‘how are you finding it?’, and he said, ‘Oh my gosh, Tom Jordan is just like AJ’, and I said, ‘that’s exactly why I brought him (here).”