Earlier this year, Louis Rees-Zammit experienced the first real setback of his professional career.
He was dropped from the Wales squad ahead of the Six Nations clash with England, always the most hotly-anticipated clash on the calendar, and sent back to his club side Gloucester. His response would tell us a lot about the 21-year-old.
After rolling his ankle during the match against Ireland, Rees-Zammit's involvement in the matches in Dublin and then a week later against Scotland was not as noteworthy as usual. The games passed him by and, with the quality available to Wayne Pivac in the wide channels, he was left out of the Twickenham showdown.
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Until that point, the youngster had the world at his feet. He'd played a starring role in Wales' 2021 Six Nations success, been tearing it up for the Cherry and Whites and been selected to tour with the British and Irish Lions.
But the day Wales trudged out in London last February, Rees-Zammit was sat on Gloucester's bench for a Premiership clash with Leicester Tigers.
“It was very tough," he admits. "But I didn’t really have much of a choice. I had to go back to Gloucester and perform.
“Obviously I was gutted not being able to play for Wales but I knew I had to go to Gloucester and prove why I should be playing, just try to get a bit of consistency in my game.
“It was the biggest game – Wales v England. I was obviously annoyed but you’ve got to get over it pretty sharpish because I had a game the same week."
The speedster was sent back to Gloucester to find some form after a quiet start to the campaign and he responded in a big way. He was brought back in for the final two games of the Six Nations but it was at Kingsholm that he really hit a hot streak.
Between being dropped by Wales and the end of the season, Rees-Zammit scored seven tries in 10 games for his club side. It was exactly the response that head national boss Pivac was looking for. It meant he came to South Africa in stunning form and he hit the ground running, bagging two tries in the thrilling first Test at Loftus Versfeld.
“I felt at my best physically and mentally," he says. "I felt really fit coming into camp and that’s down to the consistency and playing all the matches for Gloucester at the end of last season.
"Confidence is probably the biggest one. When you have confidence, you feel like you’re on top of the world and you can play at your best. When you haven’t got that, it’s quite hard.
"As soon as I get form, I try to be unstoppable. It just helps my game, it gives me confidence and I can be myself then.”
Rees-Zammit had helped Wales get into a commanding 18-3 lead in the opening Test with his two tries but was then sin-binned in the second half, along with three other Wales players, when the Boks turned up the pressure.
The winger's yellow angered Wales' management as it appeared to be a textbook jackal after he'd made a stunning cover tackle on Willie Le Roux. But the referee saw it differently and sent Rees-Zammit to the naughty step after adjudging that the Welshman had not released the tackled player before going back in on the ball.
Rees-Zammit was seen angrily gesticulating as he left the pitch.
“I believed that I’d won the jackal and then to see the yellow card I was pretty angry, as you could all see," he smiled.
“But obviously I couldn’t do anything, I had to just go and sit on the bench and hold it all in. I wasn’t best pleased but it is what it is. You just have to take it on the chin.
“It was tough to take for all of us really. We feel like we were so close but we had to use it as motivation heading into the second Test. We knew what they were about and we knew if we stuck to our processes and plans that we knew we could win."
Rees-Zammit was out here this time last year with the British and Irish Lions but was not involved in the Test series, having to watch on from the stands. But he is revelling in being in the thick of it against the world champions in their own backyard and is now targeting more history after being part of the first ever Welsh team to beat the Springboks in South Africa last weekend.
"It’s amazing. I always believed that I could play against South Africa, that I was made for it. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance last year but I’m here now and it’s 1-1 in the series. What more would I want?
"To be the first team to win on South African soil is amazing but ultimately we’re here to win a Test series. Hopefully we can do that on Saturday.”
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