It’s been a steep learning curve so far but Zac Ward is hopeful he can continue to climb it at Ulster as he bids to make the switch from sevens star to the 15-a-side game.
The 25-year-old joined the province on a trial basis after representing Ireland’s sevens side at the Paris Olympics with the plan to transition to the wing having previously played all of his 15s rugby in the back row.
That initial trial period was to last until the autumn international window, which has just opened, and Ward – son of former Ulster captain Andy – is eager to keep learning at the province.
“It’s an ongoing discussion and hopefully by the end of this week I’ll have a better idea of what the plan is,” he said.
“From my side anyway I hope I can be kept on as long as possible as I’ve really enjoyed the first two months I’ve had. It’s been new to me, playing as a winger – I’ve never done that before – and starting from scratch was pretty difficult.
“[Head coach] Richie [Murphy] and [skills coach] Dan Soper especially have been really good in helping me develop and hopefully they’ve seen enough to warrant me staying on for at least the rest of the season.”
Ward appeared in the white of Ulster in two pre-season games before going to South Africa with an Emerging Ireland squad under the charge of Simon Easterby – who will take over as interim senior head coach after the autumn internationals when Andy Farrell steps away to concentrate on the British and Irish Lions.
He played in wins over the Pumas and the Cheetahs, scoring a try against the former, and admits the international call-up came as a “complete shock”.
“I had spoken to [Ulster’s head of rugby operations and recruitment] Bryn Cunningham about joining Ulster just before going into the [Olympic] village in Paris but didn’t get into it too much because I wanted to focus on trying to medal there.
“Then when we came out it was a matter of ‘OK let’s get this up and running and see how it goes’ [with Ulster].
“But it wasn’t until training one day when Richie came over to me and said ‘listen, they want to take you on the Emerging Ireland tour and continue your development there’.”
Ward, whose younger brother Bryn played for the Ireland U20s last season and is a back row in the Ulster Academy, absorbed plenty of knowledge from both the coaches and his team-mates on that trip and the learning doesn’t stop at the Kingspan Stadium – whether from boyhood friend and Ulster regular Ethan McElroy, South African sevens Olympic medallist Werner Kok, or even little brother.
“I grew up with Ethan McElroy, so I’d go to him about a lot of stuff and I’ve been talking to Werner a lot, mainly about the transition from sevens to 15s, but I’ve been talking to him as well about what they call the ‘Olympic blues’, that feeling of coming out of the Olympics and finding stuff to keep your mind active.
“I’ve had loads of questions that he’s been able to answer because he’s one of the few people, that I know anyway, who has done the sevens, done the Olympics, and then transitioned into 15s.
“My whole family have been really, really beneficial. It’s more the off the field stuff they’ve been the biggest help with.
“I can be quite hard on myself a lot of the time in training and they’ve been very good in keeping me level headed and reminding me that it’s brand new to me, I’ve never done it before and there’s going to be mistakes.
“My brother said to me a couple of weeks ago that making mistakes is the best way to learn and that’s a massive help.”
