Munster ace Van den Heever talks up benefits of 7s rugby

There was a time when it hardly mattered who played on the wing for Munster. The chances were they would hardly ever see the ball.

But the game has changed in the professional era to such an extent that they now have a massive role to play when it comes to finishing off movements that may have started many phases earlier.

That is why Munster now have a whole host of players who can fill the number 14 and 11 jerseys in Simon Zebo, Keith Earls, Felix Jones, Andrew Conway, Johne Murphy, Denis Hurley, Ronan O’Mahony and Luke O’Dea. And then there’s Gerhard van den Heever, the South African flyer who was added to the mix last season.

After a settling-in period he is now poised to stake a strong claim on the starting jersey on the biggest days of all.

Before the serious action begins, however, Van den Heever is concentrating on the Limerick World Club Sevens tournament at Thomond Park on Saturday and Sunday.

Because of his size and speed, he is regarded as a key man in the Munster challenge by coach Colm McMahon.

“I played a lot of 7s after school to help get me settled into senior rugby,” Van den Heever said.

“I played with the South African emerging 7s and was also invited to the Springboks 7s camp so I know what it is all about. The 7s have their own camp in the High Performance centre in Stellenbosch University and are separately contracted. There are 7s specialists who are completely different from the 15-man game.”

In comparison, Ireland hasn’t even reached the starting line, a point not lost on the South African.

“We are trying our best with the 7s squad at Munster and I think we have a lot of talent,” said Gerhard.

“We have been working on our defensive systems. I try and get a word in now and then about what I think we should be doing and so on. The guys are really knowledgeable.

“The most important thing is fitness because you must go full out for the full seven minutes in each half. You are defending, then attacking, then defending again. It is over and back along the pitch. One mistake leads to the other team scoring a try so the most important thing is that you don’t have to have all the speed in the world. Workrate and fitness in 7s are most important.”

Van den Heever married his South African fiancee Elsje during the summer break and they have now settled “in a nice little place” within a five-minute drive of UL where much of Munster’s rugby activity is centred.

He appreciates that this season will be extremely important for him if not quite of the make or break kind.

“I spent my time thinking about the pre-season and what I want to do this season. I was really looking forward to the pre-season from the start not like last year when I arrived half way through the season.

“I was looking forward to going through the fitness, the conditioning, getting the calls right. I am massively looking forward to the start of the season and giving my best.”

Munster 7s squad: C Bohane, S Buckley, S Fitzgerald, J Glynn, N Hodson, R Murphy, L O’Dea, R O’Mahony (capt), T Quinlan, R Scannell, D Sweetnam, G van den Heever.