I’m Wales Rugby World Cup star who is such a big Cristiano Ronaldo fan that I wear his BOXERS during games
LOUIS REES-ZAMMIT admits he wears Cristiano Ronaldo boxers — after copying the Portuguese superstar’s goal celebration.
The Welsh winger was booed by fuming Portugal supporters as he mimicked Ronaldo after scoring his try in Saturday’s Pool C triumph over the Rugby World Cup minnows.
But Manchester United fan Rees-Zammit, 22, admits he has been obsessed by Ronaldo since he was a kid.
LRZ explained: “Everyone knows I’m a United fan and Ronaldo is my favourite player.
“I wear his boxers and dress like him. So I thought why not do his celebration as well?
“A few of my mates back home wanted me to do it.
“They’re massive football fans too, and we don’t play Portugal very often. So I said if I scored I’d do it for them.”
While Wales were registering a far-from-convincing bonus-point win over the Portuguese, Rees-Zammit’s favourite football team were losing 3-1 at home to Brighton.
He added: “I don’t want to talk about the Man United result!
“But that’s a maximum ten points for us from our first two matches, and we’re absolutely buzzing about that.
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS
“OK, it wasn’t our greatest game again but we know we’ve got a lot to work on, and going up against Australia we’ve got to step up a gear again?
“But confidence levels among the team are high.
“You know, two games, two wins. And when you don’t get perfect wins there’s always a lot to improve on.
“That’s great. We need to see that progress as the tournament goes on.
“We have eight days until the next game, so we’ll hopefully have a good training week and be ready for Australia.”
Portugal received a message of congratulations from Ronaldo when they qualified for only their second World Cup.
And they deserve another one after making the Welsh second string look very ordinary.
The Portuguese produced most of the best attacking moments, and scored the best try of the game as flanker Nicolas Martins finished off a terrific lineout move.
Apart from Rees- Zammit’s kick-and-chase effort, Wales had to rely on the grunt of forwards Dewi Lake, Jac Morgan, and Taulupe Faletau for their scores.
Morgan put Rees-Zammit into space with a ninth-minute offload — and after creating the winger’s try in the 32-26 opening win over Fiji, he now has two assists to go with his own touchdown!
Morgan had to step in at short notice when fellow openside flanker Tommy Reffell strained his calf in the warm-up.
The Wales co-captain put in a mighty shift and was man of the match.
And the Dragons will hope his exploits have not burned him out with the Aussies coming up.
Morgan is confident he can continue to set his team the perfect example.
He said: “There were a few sore bodies after the Fiji match — and mine was one of them.
“It was a bit of a shock to be told I was playing just a few minutes before the Portugal game, so I’m glad I stepped up.
“But we prepare as a group so it wasn’t like I was stepping into the unknown.
“There’s a bit left in the tank, although I’ll appreciate the eight-day gap between the Portugal and Australia matches.”