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Louis Rees-Zammit marked his selection in the Lions squad by scoring two tries as Gloucester dented Northampton’s Gallagher Premiership play-off hopes with a 31-7 bonus point victory at Franklin’s Gardens.
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The 20-year old Wales wing, the youngest player in the 37-strong squad for the three-Test series in South Africa, was playing in front of the Lions head coach Warren Gatland but said that all he was thinking about was helping Gloucester clinch a spot in next season’s Heineken Champions Cup.
“It has been an outstanding week for me,” said Rees-Zammit, who doubled his Premiership try tally for the season.
“Being picked by the Lions did not really sink in until that night when I had dinner with my brother and my parents on their 26th wedding anniversary.
“I had messages from everyone I know, and more, and I cannot thank enough everyone who has helped me, but my focus is playing my part for Gloucester in the final four matches of the season and getting into the top eight. I am not someone who gets ahead of himself and the players here keep me humble.”
Gloucester had won only one Premiership match away from Kingsholm all season, and that by a point at Wasps, but from the moment Rees-Zammit scored his first try after 14 minutes they were in control against a Northampton side which failed to fire a shot.
“We have been looking for a performance to be proud of and this was it,” said Rees-Zammit.
It'll be a long time before this workplace relationship thaws out. https://t.co/C5ew8QGFhx
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 8, 2021
“It has not always gone for us this season but we are a tight-knit group. I may have scored two tries, but others created the chances for me and then it was up to me to do my bit.”
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Rees-Zammit watched his Wales and Lions colleague Dan Biggar leave the field after 19 minutes with concussion following a collision with Billy Twelvetrees and said concerns about being injured before the South Africa tour would not cloud his mind in the next month.
“I will be thinking about the games ahead not injuries,” he said.
Have Billy's words come back to haunt him?https://t.co/t3zVP27YAy
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 8, 2021
“Dan is one of my close friends and I spoke to him as he came off the field. He said he was fine and I hope he is back on the field soon.”
Northampton’s director of rugby Chris Boyd was left shaking his head at a performance he did not see coming after three successive league victories.
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“We did not win any aspect of the game and the scoreline reflected that,” he said.
“We were embarrassed and it was unacceptable. What it means is that we have lost control of our destiny and to get into the top four we need others to lose.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
29 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
29 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
29 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.
29 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.
29 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 commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments