Louis Rees-Zammit Named In Wales Squad Amid Pitch Row

Steve Tandy named Louis Rees-Zammit in his 39-man Wales squad for the Nations Championship, with hooker Dewi Lake captain again for the November Tests against Japan, New Zealand and Australia in Cardiff.

The Bristol winger is one of 17 backs in the group, and he has used his new podcast, The SideStep, to launch a fierce attack on Saracens’ artificial pitch, as Wales Online reported.

For me, the pitch complaint matters more than the selection. Rees-Zammit is one of seven wingers in Tandy’s group, but he came away from Bristol’s game with Saracens with painful grazes and scars on his legs, and he says he has received thousands of messages from kids sending photos of the same injuries.

Rees-Zammit Nations Championship Place: Wales Squad In Full

Tandy’s group carries 1,042 Test caps between them and three uncapped players. Tandy said it was “great to welcome back the players who were unavailable for the first three rounds of the Nations Championship”, with others picked on club form.

Squad fact	Detail
Squad size	39
Forwards / backs	22 / 17
Captain	Dewi Lake
Uncapped	Rhys Barratt, Che Hope, Aneurin Owen
Combined Test caps	1,042
Players at English clubs	14, plus Montpellier lock Adam Beard
Dragons / Ospreys call-ups	6 / 4

Forwards: Rhys Barratt, Rhys Carre, Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Dewi Lake (captain), Liam Belcher, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis, Archie Griffin, Dillon Lewis, Adam Beard, Ben Carter, Seb Davies, Dafydd Jenkins, Teddy Williams, Taine Basham, James Botham, Kane James, Alex Mann, Jac Morgan, Taine Plumtree, Aaron Wainwright.

Backs: Che Hope, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Tomos Williams, Sam Costelow, Dan Edwards, Joe Hawkins, Louie Hennessey, Eddie James, Max Llewellyn, Aneurin Owen, Josh Adams, Rio Dyer, Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Ellis Mee, Blair Murray, Louis Rees-Zammit, Tom Rogers.

Opponent	Venue
Japan (first home game)	Principality Stadium, Cardiff
New Zealand	Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Australia	Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Southern hemisphere opponent, finals weekend	Twickenham

Louis Rees-Zammit Squad News: Who Came In And Who Missed Out

Dragons centre Aneurin Owen, 26, and scrum-half Che Hope, 23, join Cardiff prop Rhys Barratt as the uncapped trio. Tandy said Owen “thoroughly deserves his opportunity because his performances have set him aside from everyone else”. We covered the trio in more detail in our piece on the uncapped Aneurin Owen, Che Hope and Rhys Barratt in the Wales squad.

Lock Seb Davies and number eight Taine Basham are called up for the first time under Tandy, while Rio Dyer and Gabriel Hamer-Webb return on the wing. Basham gets the nod ahead of Taulupe Faletau, who made his first appearance of the season for Cardiff at Northampton on Sunday.

Leicester flanker Tommy Reffell misses out with a knee injury and is out for four to six weeks. Scarlets wing Macs Page, 21, is also left out, though former Dragons and Ospreys boss Lyn Jones told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that Page has “a huge, huge future for Wales”. Hooker Elliot Dee, the leading try scorer in the United Rugby Championship, is not in the group either, with Liam Belcher preferred as third hooker behind Lake and Ryan Elias.

Fourteen of the squad play for English clubs, so a lot of this group will be back in Premiership Rugby colours once the November window closes.

Rees-Zammit And Marcus Smith On The Saracens Pitch

On The SideStep, Rees-Zammit did not hold back. “Player welfare is just non-existent on that pitch, I’m telling you,” he said, adding: “Sarries pitch is the worst I have ever played on.”

He accepted the case for artificial surfaces on community use, saying he completely agrees with doing community events and thinks “it’s unbelievable what we can do with grassroots”. His argument is about protecting players, and he pointed to the NFL, where he said players “don’t even want Astro pitches because everyone is doing their ACLs and Achilles”.

His ask of the club was direct: “just pay a little bit for new turf. It needs to be dealt with ASAP.”

Marcus Smith, the England and Harlequins fly-half who co-hosts the podcast, backed him on injury risk. “There’s no real give in it. It’s like concrete,” he said, before going further: “I think it shouldn’t be allowed in the professional game, in my opinion.”

Jack’s Verdict

I think Rees-Zammit is right to push this, and a Wales international with an England fly-half alongside him will be harder to ignore than a lone Instagram post. The scars on his legs and the thousands of messages he says he received from kids are a better argument than any slogan about playing the whole year round, which is the genuine upside of artificial pitches and one he acknowledges himself. Where I would be careful is the leap from one bad surface to a ban across the professional game, because Smith’s view is an opinion, not a ruling. The best outcome is simple: Rees-Zammit fit and starting against Japan in Cardiff, and the pitch debate producing an actual review rather than another week of noise.

Your Questions Answered

Who is Rees-Zammit playing for?

Louis Rees-Zammit is a Wales international and plays his club rugby for Bristol Bears. Steve Tandy has named him in the 39-man Wales squad for the November Nations Championship Tests, where he is one of seven wingers in the group alongside Josh Adams, Rio Dyer, Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Ellis Mee, Blair Murray and Tom Rogers.

Who is in the Wales squad for the Nations Championship?

Tandy’s group has 22 forwards and 17 backs, with Dewi Lake as captain. Aneurin Owen, Che Hope and Rhys Barratt are uncapped, Seb Davies and Taine Basham are called up for the first time under Tandy, and Taulupe Faletau, Tommy Reffell and Macs Page are left out. The full lists are above.

What did Rees-Zammit say about the Saracens pitch?

On his podcast The SideStep, he said player welfare is “just non-existent on that pitch” and called it the worst he has played on. He said he was left with grazes and scars on his legs after Bristol’s game with Saracens, and called on the club to pay for new turf.

Who do Wales play in their home Nations Championship games?

Wales play Japan, New Zealand and Australia at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, then meet a southern hemisphere opponent at Twickenham on finals weekend. The squad assembles next week, with the focus on the first home game against Japan.

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