Warren Gatland was stunned by a lunchtime phone call from Louis Rees-Zammit revealing his shock switch to American football, but recovered to back the ‘freak’ to excel in his mission in the United States.
It wasn’t just the wider rugby community that was blind to the Gloucester and Wales wing’s abrupt career change.
Club and country had no idea until the plan was outlined to them around noon on Tuesday.
It all happened so quickly – perhaps fitting, considering the young prodigy is best known for his fast pace.
Rees-Zammit faces immediate but exciting turmoil. He flies to Florida on Thursday, ready to begin a 10-week assessment camp next week as part of the International Player Pathway program, which costs the NFL $2 million to $3 million a year.
Louis Rees-Zammit (pictured) has retired from rugby to pursue his dream of becoming an NFL player
Rees-Zammit has the full support of his Strictly Come Dancing girlfriend Saffron Barker (right) after his shock decision
Rees-Zammit confirmed he had made his decision after ‘careful consideration’
He will not be paid while attending camp – unless and until he is signed to a franchise. The camp will take place in Brandenton, Florida and he is one of 16 contenders to be revealed on Thursday.
Riches are on offer if he makes it, but that’s a big ask. Rees-Zammit could earn £240,000 if he is picked for a practice squad in his first season and that salary could rise to £633,000 if he progresses to a full squad in year two. The program’s most successful rugby product is Jordan Mailata, who came from the Australian league and now earns £8 million a year.
Rees-Zammit is said to have recently signed a contract with American rapper Jay-Z’s management company, Roc Nation, which also represents Siya Kolisi, Maro Itoje and Marcus Smith. Their connections to the US sports sector will undoubtedly have been a factor in facilitating this opportunity.
Gatland lost a leading figure from his Wales squad ahead of the upcoming Six Nations, but he expressed his support, saying: “He’s getting the chance to do something he’s dreamed of for a long time and I wish him all the best wishes. . We all know what an athlete he is and how fast he is. And he’s certainly not small; even at that speed it weighs 100 kg.
‘As an athlete he’s a bit of a freak. When he came to us he wasn’t in the best shape physically, but I’ve never seen anyone get fit as quickly as he did during the World Cup. He’s a physical freak.’
“I don’t watch a lot of NFL, but he was obviously a big fan when he was young and he has a very high profile outside of the game in terms of social media, so this helps him improve that. I’m not saying this is negative at all.’
Asked whether he believes Rees-Zammit will return to rugby one day, Gatland added: ‘No idea. There aren’t many people who make it in the NFL who haven’t played it at a young age, so it’s going to be a challenge for him, but good luck to him.”
Rees-Zammit will look to go a step further than Racing 92 and former Wasps and England wing Christian Wade, who claimed a place in the Buffalo Bills training squad but saw his ambitions dashed by an untimely injury.
Wales head coach Warren Gatland admitted he was blindsided by Rees-Zammit’s decision to quit the sport just weeks before the Six Nations
Rees-Zammit represented Wales at the World Cup in France last year, where Gatland’s men were knocked out by Argentina in the quarter-finals
Rees-Zammit has become one of Wales’ biggest rugby stars in recent years and also starred for Gloucester, but has now chosen to leave the sport.
Meanwhile, Gatland is determined to be philosophical about being deprived of Wales’ most prolific finisher in recent times. “It’s more of a shock than a disappointment,” he said. “We’re disappointed to lose a talent like him, but we just have to take it in stride, move on and focus on the rest of the squad.”
As if Tuesday’s dramatic developments weren’t enough, Gatland had already discovered that another talented wing would not be available to him: Exeter sensation Immanuel Feyi-Waboso. Despite being from Cardiff, he is also eligible for England and is expected to be part of Steve Borthwick’s Six Nations squad.
“He’s definitely talented, but he’s as green as anything,” Gatland said. ‘There are a few Welsh coaches who heard he had decided that. Some of their comments were not so positive about him. “If he doesn’t want to play for Wales, you can understand how the Welsh feel about that, so they weren’t too disappointed.”
‘I just hope that if they select him, they stick with him. We saw that in the Six Nations last year; they chose Ollie Hassell-Collins, he had one game and was thrown out like water from a bath.”