Louis Rees-Zammit may be the talk of international rugby but the Welsh winger has switched his attention to beat Bath on Friday night according to his club boss.
Flying winger Rees-Zammit, who turned 20 at the start of the month, h
as exploded onto the scene in his first Six Nations as the tournament’s leading try scorer with three in two rounds as Wales have beaten Ireland and Scotland.
Now the man many pundits are tipping for a place on the British and Irish Lions tour looks set to be unleashed for Gloucester against Bath.
Cherry and Whites head coach George Skivington confirmed Rees-Zammit, Scottish centre Chris Harris and Italian scrum half Stephen Varney were all back with the club and available for selection but was keeping his cards close to his chest in terms of selection.
However Skivington said: “Zam is obviously back training with us this week and the first thing he said is let’s get into Bath and let’s try and beat Bath on Friday night and I think that is a credit to him.
“He is a world class finisher, there are not many people with Zam’s pace and ability to score tries. He is thriving at the moment and he is just a very impressive young man.
“He is very humble, he works hard and he just gets on with his job.
“He knows he has got a lot to learn in the game and he has got two very good environments to learn from.”
Despite Jonny May staying with England during this Six Nations fallow week, Gloucester are blessed with options on the wing with England international Ollie Thorley and Argentina international Santiago Carreras both scoring tries in the 17-18 home defeat to Bristol Bears last weekend.
Having struggled in the line out against Bristol, Gloucester are also set for a double boost in the second row with Matias Alemanno coming through an injury scare which saw the giant lock go to hospital on Friday night for observation after taking a blow in the throat.
Meanwhile Ed Slater is set to return from his four game ban for a dangerous clear out at a ruck against Sale.
Elsewhere England international hooker Jack Singleton is ‘almost fit for selection’ according to Skivington but might not be ready in time for the derby.
At Scrum half, Joe Simpson is still a few weeks away from making his return from a hand injury but the good news is young stand-off George Barton is out of precautionary isolation due to Covid and in the mix for selection.
With Lloyd Evans still sidelined having had surgery on his ankle, Skivington admitted the club are still considering bringing in cover at fly-half having played Billy Twelvetrees there for the last couple of games.
But with the threat of relegation no longer hanging over the club’s head, perhaps Skivington will be more inclined to give England U20s fly-half Barton a run in the side.
Skivington said: “George Barton is back in training which is great. So we have got a young 10 out there and I think George is going to be a great player and that is really exciting for the club.
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“It is still an ongoing discussion about cover at 10, we have had a couple of conversations with people but nothing has been decided yet.”
Reflecting on the injury situation, Skivington said: “Slowly but surely we have got guys coming back in, you saw Ben Morgan came off the bench at the weekend which is great and we have got one or two others over the next few weeks.
“The picture is improving but rugby is rugby, there are always going to be players injured.”
