Wales exciting again after slow starts – Rees-Zammit

Louis Rees-Zammit is confident Wales can give the Principality Stadium fans plenty to cheer against Italy after “letting in tries for fun” at the start of the Six Nations.

Steve Tandy’s men will attempt to end a 15-game losing streak in the championship when they welcome the Azzurri to Cardiff on Saturday.

Wales were hammered by England and France in the first two rounds, but have shown spirit against Scotland and Ireland to give hope of a first victory since 2023.

Full-back Rees-Zammit has called for a fast start to earn the raucous backing that inspired the players against the Scots.

“It’s hard for the crowd to get involved when we’re not playing very well and we’re letting in tries for fun early on in the game.

“When you have a good start to the game, that’s when you can start bringing in your home fans, you can start playing better.

“The boys then feel the energy, and it just brings a bit of momentum to us. You’ve got to start well and bring the crowd into the game.

“The fans give us so much energy, especially against Scotland. That was an unbelievable feeling being on the pitch with 70,000 people cheering for us.”

Rees-Zammit returned to rugby from his bid to crack the NFL last summer and has since won just one of his seven Test appearances.

Wales led until the 75th minute against the Scots and were 12-10 down at half-time in Dublin and were down by a score until a 76th minute penalty.

“The past two games, we should have won them both, but they were against two very good outfits in Scotland and Ireland who have been together a long time,” insisted Rees Zammit.

“We’re just building and, I said it after the France game, we’ve just got to start trusting each other and we have really started to do that for the last two games.

The Bristol back has also shifted from wing to full-back, but is yet to add to his 16th international try that he scored against New Zealand in November.

Prop Rhys Carre, meanwhile, has crossed three times in the tournament and went over with a remarkable 30-yard effort against the Irish.

“All credit to Carre, we’ve seen him do things like that in training, but to score in a game is a bit different,” said Rees-Zammit.