Wales winger Louis Rees-Zammit names ex-Glasgow Warriors man as the one player who'd beat him in a race

The 25-year old recently returned to his first sport after a brief venture in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Jaksonville Jaguars. He quickly established himself back in Steve Tandy’s international side and has been terrorising defenses in the Gallagher Premiership.

He recently spoke with TNT Sports, who broadcast English rugby’s top flight, where he was asked to rank his speed against some of the fastest players in rugby’s history. The 2021 British & Irish Lions tourist backed himself in a footrace against all but one of the names that were put to him.

Wales speedster Ress-Zammit tips former Glasgow Warriors winger to beat him in a race

That one player is former Glasgow Warriors winger and USA Sevens icon Carlin Isles. The ‘All American’ track and field standout took the rugby world by storm when he burst on the sevens circuit back in 2012.

He was so prolific in the shortened version of the game, with 202 tries, that a move to Scotstoun materialised for the Ohio native in 2014. However, he couldn’t translate his success on the sevens pitch into the full 15-a-side version and left Warriors the following year having not made a first-team appearance.

Despite his incredible athletic ability, he arrived in Scotland at a time where Gregor Townsend’s club side were stacked with some of the greatest wingers in their history. Isles was always going to struggle to find game time ahead of the likes of Sean Maitland, Tommy Seymour, DTH van der Merwe and more.

However, he did turn out for Ayr RFC to gain experience during that time and represented Warriors at the Melrose Sevens. After leaving Scotstoun he returned to the Sevens circuit to focus on representing the USA at the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio.

Bristol Bears wingers backs himself against England counterparts, World Cup winners and All Blacks legend

In the social media clip shared by TNT Sports, Rees-Zammit rates himself as quicker than former England winger Jonny May, All Blacks legend Jonah Lomu, France sensation Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Wales icon Shane Williams, ex-Rugby League crossover star Christian Wade, New Zealand full-back Will Jordan, South Africa World Cup winner Cheslin Kolbe and current England wingers Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Henry Arundell. He pauses before considering former Newcastle Falcons and current Leicester Tigers winger Adam Radwan, who he describes as “rapid”, but eventually backs himself.

When finally asked about Isles, Rees-Zammit confidently backs the American. He said: “Carlin Isles, he’s an American sprinter really, so he would beat me.”

Although he wasn’t able to make the incredibly high grade required to play in the NFL, Rees-Zammit still gained a lot of attention during his time across the Atlantic. During an International Player Pathway (IPP) Pro Day he was considered one of the league's fastest athletes with a top speed was 24.2 miles per hour, which is enough to rank him as an all-time fastest non-league player player in the sport’s history.

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