Heinz strives for World Cup spot to honour his late grandmother
New Zealand-born No9 in England squad wants to make family proud, he tells Charlie Morgan
There are three players in Eddie Jones’s Rugby World Cup training squad who have played against England. Elliot Daly lined up for the Barbarians at Twickenham in 2013 and Joe Marler did the same this year.
In between came scrum-half Willi Heinz, one of Jones’s more intriguing inclusions. Gloucester’s captain faced Stuart Lancaster’s tourists five years ago. His Crusaders side went down 38-7 as Danny Cipriani, a future half-back partner, excelled.
By his own admission, Heinz watched the recent Cricket World
Cup final with “a foot in both camps”. That said, he is audibly proud when explaining how he qualifies to represent England.
“My grandmother, Aylieff, was born and raised in Southampton,” explains the 32-year-old. “She met my grandfather, who was over here with the New Zealand navy in the Second World War.
“They hit it off pretty quickly and she moved out to New Zealand on a boat… which sounded pretty brutal. Then they started their family in Christchurch. My grandfather died when I was quite young. My grandmother lived up the end of the street from us and moved in with us towards the end of her life.
“She was an incredibly proud Englishwoman who loved her sport and always encouraged us to come over and live in England if we ever got the chance.
“Unfortunately, she passed away in 2008 just before I turned professional, but I always knew that I wanted to live over here.”
Heinz’s grounding with Canterbury and the Crusaders meant he shared the field with greats such as Richie Mccaw and Dan Carter between 2009 and 2015. He believes those hall-offame All Blacks, back-to-back world champions, were set apart by their calmness and accuracy “as a game was on a knife-edge”.
Having turned down previous Premiership offers as he and wife Sophie brought up their family, a connection was established with David Humphreys, the Gloucester director of rugby. Gloucester made an offer and stuck by their man when a gruesome injury threatened to derail things.
“I played in that game in 2014, when England wiped the floor with us,” said Heinz. “I was in negotiations with Gloucester after that and we had a pre-season game for the Crusaders… and I snapped both the bones in my lower leg.
“It was brutal. I thought [the move] was off the cards. I was pretty gutted, thinking I was going to be without a job. But David Humphreys was great. He stayed on top of the medical side, stayed in touch with the Crusaders’ doctors and medical staff.
“They were confident that I would make a full recovery and I have. We still got the deal done and I’m delighted to be here.”
Arriving at Kingsholm in the autumn of 2015, Heinz established himself as Gloucester’s go-to No9. In the spring of 2017, Jones called him up to an England training camp that provided an “awesome” – if fleeting – taste of the Test set-up. Things then went quiet again until the back end of last season. Gloucester had made the play-offs and their captain, a standout performer, received a text message. It was from Jones, who explained that he had been watching Heinz’s progress.
“I got the call-up after the Premiership final. I was delighted, absolutely stoked. I’m pinching myself every day that I’m here and trying to make the most of it.”
If Jones takes two scrum-halves, it would appear that Heinz is in a direct shoot-out with in-form Ben Spencer of Saracens for the role of deputy to Ben Youngs. That is assuming neither Dan Robson or Richard Wigglesworth returns. Danny Care’s race would appear to be run.
Jones has mentioned that he likes the “control” that Heinz offers. According to the man himself, this has been a work in progress.
“It’s changing a bit, but when I was playing in Super Rugby, defence was secondary to attack,” Heinz concedes. “We’d spent 15 or 20 minutes on a Thursday on defence. Over here, it’s almost 50-50.
“You’re going to get better defences when you put more time into it, so in order to break down those defences, you’ve got to get your attack more organised. You have to manipulate defences slightly more, whereas in Super Rugby you can maybe play over the top and offload.
“I’ve learnt fairly quickly over here that you can control a game in different ways, whether that’s the speed of the game or through kicking. I didn’t box-kick a whole lot in Canterbury and with the Crusaders … I learnt pretty quickly that you’ve got to have a decent box-kick up in the Premiership!”
As one of the senior members of a squad that boasts an abundance of youth, Heinz is admirably self-aware. A shrewd operator, he is no regular uncapped rookie. Indeed, Heinz will hope to slot in as a link man capable of keeping England moving.
“I’m not trying to be anyone I’m not. There are some great nines in this country that bring different skill-sets and attributes. I can’t try to rip off anyone else,” he says.
“I’ve just got to be the best version of myself. I’m not lightning quick or anything like that … I’m trying to get out there and pass really well, kick really well, tackle hard and communicate to the forwards as well.”
‘I’m not trying to be anyone I’m not. There are some great nines in England’