Louis Rees-Zammit

Louis Rees-Zammit (born 2 February 2001) is a Welsh professional American football running back for the Kansas City Chiefs and a former rugby union player. He played as a winger for Gloucester in the English Premiership. He played for Wales at an international level, scoring 14 tries in 32 caps. Rees-Zammit won the 2021 Six Nations Championship with Wales and he was subsequently named in the squad for the 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa.

In January 2024, Rees-Zammit began training for the NFL's International Player Pathway Program. In March 2024, he signed with the Chiefs.

Early life
Rees-Zammit was born in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. He attended The Cathedral School, Llandaff, and played rugby for the school. He played youth rugby at the Cardiff Blues academy and was named in the Cardiff Schools Team of the Decade in 2020. At 16 years old, he moved to Hartpury College and from there to the academy of Gloucester Rugby.

Club career
Rees-Zammit broke into the Gloucester senior team in the 2019–20 season, becoming the club's youngest ever Premiership player at 18 years and 70 days. Rees-Zammit would also become Gloucester's youngest European player and youngest European try scorer in 2019. He scored two tries against Worcester during a 36–3 win in December 2019, and later the same month became the first 18-year-old to score a hat-trick of tries during a 33–26 loss to Northampton. He received the Premiership Player of the Month Award in December 2019.

On 13 January 2020, Rees-Zammit signed his first professional contract with Gloucester, securing him to the club on a long-term deal. Rees-Zammit ended his season with 12 tries in 15 appearances for the 2019–20 Premiership side.

He made his first appearance of the 2021–22 Premiership scoring two tries in the Round 4 victory over Sale. By the time he decided to leave the club in January 2024, he had made 77 club appearances scoring 210 points.

Wales
Rees-Zammit initially represented Wales under-18s. He received his first call-up to the senior Wales squad, under coach Wayne Pivac, on 15 January 2020 for the 2020 Six Nations Championship. He made his debut for Wales, from the bench, in a test match against France held at Stade de France in Paris, France, in October 2020. Rees-Zammit scored his maiden test try against Georgia on 21 November 2020.

He scored his first 2021 Six Nations Championship try, on his Six Nations debut, in the Round 1 match against Ireland on 7 February 2021. On 13 February 2021, in the Six Nations match against Scotland, he scored two tries, including the winning try, and was named as man of the match. Wales went on to win the 2021 championship the next weekend giving Rees-Zammit his first Six Nations Championship. He also won the try of the Championship award.

Rees-Zammit scored 14 tries at international level for Wales, including five at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

British & Irish Lions
On 6 May 2021, Rees-Zammit was named in the squad for the 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa. Rees-Zammit's inclusion made him the youngest Lion selected since the 1959 Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand at the age of 20 years and 93 days. Rees-Zammit made his first Lions appearance in the tours opening provincial game against the Lions, scoring the opening try after 3 minutes. Rees-Zammit was then selected to play against the Sharks in the following game, again getting in the scoresheet as the Lions ran out 54–7 winners. Rees-Zammit scored as a replacement in the final provincial game of the tour on 17 July 2021 against the Stormers, taking his tour tally to three tries in four appearances.

American football career
On 16 January 2024, Rees-Zammit announced that he would retire from rugby union to train in American football through the National Football League's International Player Pathway Program.

On 29 March 2024, Rees-Zammit signed a contract with the Kansas City Chiefs to play running back.

Personal life
Rees-Zammit is the nephew of Paul Rees, a former rugby union player who played as a full-back for Cardiff, Pontypool and Wales B. His paternal grandfather emigrated from Malta.

He has dated social media influencer and YouTuber Saffron Barker. In March 2024, Barker announced that the relationship had ended.

Rees-Zammit appeared in season 1 of the Netflix documentary Six Nations: Full Contact.