Gloucester and Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit has left his membership with fast impact to “pursue his dream” of enjoying within the NFL.
The Rugby Paper’s Neil Fissler reported that scouts from the NFL had been conserving tabs on Rees-Zammit final Sunday.
The shock information, which derailed and delayed Wales’ Six Nations squad announcement, was revealed by his mother or father membership in a assertion on their web site early on Tuesday afternoon.
“Gloucester Rugby have agreed to launch winger Louis Rees-Zammit with fast impact to allow the 22-year-old to pursue his dream of enjoying within the Nationwide Soccer League (NFL),” it learn.
“The Welsh worldwide has accepted an invite to hitch the NFL Worldwide Participant Pathway (IPP) which offers elite athletes from all over the world with a possibility to earn a spot on an NFL roster.”
The 22-year-old pauses his rugby enjoying profession with 14 tries in 32 appearances for Wales, and 42 tries for Gloucester in 67 video games for the membership he has spent his total skilled profession with.
Rees-Zammit thanked the Cherry and Whites in a press release on X as he confirmed the information.
“Gloucester Rugby has been an enormous a part of my life,” he mentioned. “From the beginning at Hartpury Faculty and my first skilled rugby contract with Gloucester in 2020, to my Wales and Lions caps, the membership has been central to my improvement as a participant, and I’m so grateful for his or her assist.
“I’ll at all times be very pleased with my time at Kingsholm, and need to notably thank the unbelievable followers who make the membership so particular.
“Additionally, to my team-mates, to George Skivington and Alex Brown, thanks for giving me such particular recollections and for supporting this subsequent stage of my profession.
“I’ve had the unbelievable honour of enjoying rugby for my nation which, as a proud Welshman, I’ve by no means taken as a right.
“Nevertheless, I consider that that is the correct time for me to understand one other skilled aim of enjoying American soccer within the US. These alternatives don’t come round fairly often.”
Rees-Zammit follows fellow winger Christian Wade in making the leap from rugby to the NFL, with the ex-England winger having gone down the identical path to earn a coaching contract on the Buffalo Payments in 2019.
Wade remained a apply squad member all through his time within the U.S. and by no means performed a recreation within the league, returning to rugby in 2022 with Racing 92. Rees-Zammit will depart the UK for Florida this week to start the IPP programme.
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