(Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
Ciaran Donaghy
Zac Ward wants to pit his skills against Olympic teammate Hugo Keenan as Ulster welcome Leinster to Ravenhill in the United Rugby Championship on Friday night.
Both were part of the Ireland Sevens team that narrowly missed out on a medal at the Paris games two years ago, with Ward seeking Keenan’s advice on switching to the XV-man code.
The pair will face each other for the first time in Friday’s showdown.
Ward said: “I’d love to play against him, I didn’t get the opportunity, and he’s been injured unfortunately a lot this year, but he’s back playing some really good rugby.
“When I first knew about potentially coming in to Ulster, I spoke to Hugo in the (Olympic) village before we played, and just spoke to him and asked him a few questions, how he found us, things that made it a little bit easier for him, and he was a great help.
“And even when I first joined, I’d still chat to him, I’d be friendly enough with him, so I’d be happy enough to lift up the phone and give him a text, and he’s always there to help.”
“Hugo’s pretty handy in the air in fairness to him, so [I need to] try and keep it out of the air, keep it on the ground, and if I get a one-on-one and I manage to go around him, I’ll not let him live it down for a while anyway!”
Ward has been surprised by the development of his younger brother Bryn, and both scored tries last weekend as Ulster beat La Rochelle to book a place in the European Challenge Cup semi-finals.
He added: “It was pretty cool, it’s nice for myself even just to get over, and then to be able to help Bryn to get over as well, it was great.
“I didn’t make it easy for him through a bit of a wobbler of a pass, but he did manage to catch it and did pretty well to get over.
“It’s nice getting to play European rugby, and especially with Bryn makes it a little bit more special.
“He’s flying it. When he first came into the place he was quiet, but now he’s giving lads [banter] left, right and centre, which is great, and he’s throwing his weight around the place, getting stuck in. He’s really putting his hands up for selection on a regular basis, even when all the lads are back, so he’s doing really well and hopefully can continue.”
Ulster are a point and place above Leinster before the big derby clash and Ward knows a big performance will be required. “Leinster have a royalty of good players around there, so it doesn’t matter what team they send up, they’re always going to be good and we know we’re going to have to put in an 80 minute performance,” he said.
“Last time we played them down there, we were ahead at half-time and for 60 minutes we were leading the game and struck our foot off the gas, and with a team like Leinster you can’t really afford to do that”.
“So, we know this week, whatever team they send up, it’s going to have to be an 80-minute performance.”
Ward is determined for Ulster to end their two-decade trophy drought as they continue to chase silverware.
He said: “We were trying to figure out when the last time Ulster won a little bit of silverware was, and I think It was 2006, so it’s 20 years round and it’s something really special.
“Guys like Bryn, for example, have never seen Ulster lift a trophy, so to be really close to be able to do something like that, it’s class, and for me personally to keep developing and trying to push us on to get on to that silverware is pretty important.”