One of the few positives Ulster were able to take from Saturday’s 40-19 reverse to Bordeaux-Bégles was the performance of debutant Zac Ward.
Ward’s performance was more akin to that of a seasoned campaigner, and not someone who only converted to the 15-a-side code of rugby just a few months ago.
Returning from the Paris Olympics as one of the Irish 7s star performers, Richie Murphy and Ulster moved quickly to persuade Ward into trying his hand at the long form version of the game. In the end there wasn’t much persuading to do as Ward jumped at the chance to represent his home province.
In many ways it’s no real surprise that Ward’s journey has a scheduled a stop at Ravenhill. Zac’s father Andy was one of the heroes of the 1999 European cup winning team and also lined out for Ireland.
Transitioning from 7s to 15s is not as straightforward as one might think, and for Ward, patience was the key as he set about learning a whole new ball game.
But with an unexpected chance coming a little bit earlier than planned, Ward was determined not to let down those who have put so much time and effort into his development over the last four months.
“I knew coming in I had a lot to learn. There’s actually more than I thought I had to learn,” admitted Ward.
“I knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight. When I was first originally speaking with Richie, I think the plan was for my debut to be in the new year, just to give me as much time as possible to learn everything.
“But we’ve had a few injuries in the back three especially so maybe that opportunity came a little bit quicker. But definitely I thought I was ready and the coaches showed a good bit of faith in me and hopefully I can repay them next week as well.”
As part of his development Ward has been studying how some of the world’s best wingers play. Both with and without the ball. One being Bordeaux-Bégles and French international, Damian Penaud. Who turned out to be his opposite number on Saturday.
“I knew I was going to be playing against Penaud all week and I was trying not to overhype it too much.
“Obviously at the back of your mind you know you’re up against one, or maybe the best winger in the world, so you got to do something pretty special to stand out.”
But Ward also stated that he doesn’t have to go too far to seek any advice from Irish internationals.
“In fairness Jacob (Stockdale) has been a massive help all week. As soon as he knew that I was playing, himself and Rob Baloucoune have been every day after training, is there anything you need, do you want to go through footage?
“They’ve been a massive help. And even since I came in, they have been so so helpful in helping me trying to learn.”
