Ulster Rugby's Zac Ward on his lightning fast jump from Olympic Sevens to Emerging Ireland
Ulster Rugby signed Zac Ward after Paris 2024 and he says he being helped on his transition to the 15s game by Emerging Ireland coaches Simon Easterby and Paul O'Connell
Zac Ward believes his South Africa sojourn with Emerging Ireland is accelerating his transition from Olympic Sevens star to Ulster regular.
Ward was a stand-out performer for Ireland's Sevens team in Paris and Ulster supremo Richie Murphy brought him into his 15s set-up.
Just one month later, the 25-year-old started and finished Emerging Ireland's victory over the Pumas in Bloemfontein on Wednesday. "It was my first 80 minutes of rugby that I've played in a very, very long time so my body is in bits," said Ward.
"But it was fantastic to get out there. I've been dreaming about it for a long time, to finally get out on the pitch and help the lads to get a win was phenomenal.
"I've slowly started to find my feet on the left wing, it's only about a month that I've been doing it so I'm slowly starting to get there, but I'm really enjoying it, I got a lot of ball in hand so hopefully I can kick on in the next two games.
"It was tough coming into the 15s environment, just being part of this group but I've enjoyed every minute of it. We pretty quickly gelled as a squad and I think that showed on the pitch.
"It's been great, Sevens has really helped me develop massively as a player, and now I'm in the 15s game it's about trying to apply all the skills I've learned in Sevens into the 15s game.
"Even up in Ulster, Richie and the guys have been really helpful in helping me transition into that role. I'm just taking every day as a learning curve, I'm still new into playing as a winger and it's a great environment to be in, Simon (Easterby) and Paulie (O'Connell) have been fantastic in helping everyone develop as players.
"It's exciting, it's tough, three games in seven days, but hopefully the recovery trips I've learned in Sevens can be passed on to other lads to help us when we play again on the weekend."
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