Rees-Zammit calls Pivac to put name in hat for new position
Wayne Pivac has revealed Louis Rees-Zammit admitted over a phone call he would be willing to play at full-back for Wales.
The Gloucester flyer has featured on the wing for the majority of his professional career and has worn the 15 jersey on a few occasions at club level.
His eagerness to fill the role may be granted, with Wales experiencing a crisis of sorts with their starting back three. International stalwart Liam Williams will not be available for the entirety of the Autumn Internationals after he picked up a serious shoulder injury in his debut for Cardiff against Munster at the start of the season.
He is undergoing collarbone surgery and is not the only back facing a stint on the side-line.
The fitness of Leigh Halfpenny, Josh Adams and Alex Cuthbert is also fairly foggy, which could give Rees-Zammit the chance to showcase his back-three versatility.
“We have…opportunities to look at the likes of Josh Adams, who’s played full-back for the Lions, while Louis Rees-Zammit has played there for his club. He’s picked the phone up and said: ‘You do know I can play 15?’” Pivac told the BBC’s Scrum V podcast.
“So we have guys here who are keen to give it a go if called upon.”
However, Adams’ availability is now a cause for concern, after the Cardiff winger underwent scans on a hand injury sustained in his side’s victory over provincial rivals Dragons.
The medical assessment revealed Adams had chipped bone in his thumb, meaning he is a doubt for Wales’ opener against New Zealand on November 5th.
Cardiff boss David Young has said Adams could be out for two to four weeks. This could mean the 27-year-old also misses the second autumn Test against Argentina.
“It doesn’t need fixing or anything like that. He hasn’t got a splint or a cast on it, it’s just basically down to pain management after about two weeks,” Young said.
He added that the Welsh camp’s medical team were now responsible for assessing whether Adams was match-ready.
Pivac’s injury woes are further deepened by the situation surrounding Alex Cuthbert. The Ospreys talisman has been enjoying a rejuvenated international career but could face a setback, having picked up a shoulder injury in the second Test against South Africa in the summer. He is yet to play this season, despite being named in the Wales squad for this autumn.
Attention then turns to the 96-cap Leigh Halfpenny who has been a mainstay of the Welsh backfield for the past decade. He is the only remaining specialist 15 but unfortunately the Scarlets star is also struggling for fitness, after pulling out of his side’s Friday night match against Connacht with a tight hamstring.
However, early updates seem to indicate the withdrawal was precautionary rather than necessary which will rest easy with Pivac who is acutely aware of the skillset Halfpenny brings to the team.
“A lot of teams are going to the air and the aerial game is a big part of it. Repeatability. Positional play has to be there. A big part of it is when you want to move ball you have to retain ball,” Pivac said.
“Leigh Halfpenny’s one of the best in the game in the wide channels, the dark arts of securing possession, looking after the ball. He does the simple things really, really well.”
But with Halfpenny still an indefinite, the pathway for Rees-Zammit to feature at full-back remains open.
Other back-three alternatives include George North, who has made the transition to the centre in recent years, and Rio Dyer, the uncapped Dragons winger who has already caught Pivac’s eye.
“Rio is a player that has grown in stature over the last 12 months,” Pivac admitted.
Comments on RugbyPass
Big difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to comments