“I loved every second of it.”
In just his seventh professional game, and his third Champions Cup outing, Ulster winger Zac Ward was a class above most players on Sunday, as his side took on one of the favourites for this season’s Champions Cup, at a packed out Stade Chaban-Delmas.
The crowd would have been disappointed that the home side’s star man, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, was being rested, but Ward made up for it somewhat, providing the entertainment out wide and chipping in with two tries.
For Ireland’s summer tour of Georgia and Portugal in July, there are plenty of new faces expected, with many front-liners set to be in Australia with the Lions.
James Lowe and Mack Hansen might both go with the Lions, leaving a few open slots for a winger.
With Ireland lacking pace and power, Ward, who has represented the Emerging Ireland team, provides both in spades, as seen below in an excellent highlight reel from Ulster rugby.
Ward’s burgeoning career with Ulster has come off the back of a starring role for the Ireland sevens team at last year’s Paris Olympics.
So while he is 26, he is still a raw player at this level in the 15-a-side game.
Thankfully, he has the likes of Ireland internationals such as Jacob Stockdale, Mike Lowry, and Robert Baloucoune to learn from.
Ward said after Sunday’s game: “I loved every second of it.
“It was real tough, a real good test, but for myself personally, it was a really good learning curve and one I’ll definitely lean on going forward.
“I like competing against the best. I want to be as good as I can so I need to be competing against the best out there.
“Little Mikey and Jacob have been massively beneficial for myself.
“It’s starting to show on the pitch, we’ve all got really good chemistry and it’s just finding those little one percenters in training that start to pay off on the pitch.
“Jacob on his day is one of the best players in the world so to have someone like that to lean on is massively beneficial to myself.
“I’m constantly asking him questions but Jacob is not the only one, we have plenty of really good back-three players in the club, so I’m not stuck for advice.”
