Heaven excelled for 83 gruelling minutes against a Crusaders’ front row that included two All Black props,and was rewarded with a crucial try when his team desperately needed one.
A deft touch by Will Harrison at the death sealed the Waratahs victory over the Crusaders in a thrilling finish to their round eight clash in Golden Point extra time.
A few months ago,life was very different. Heaven was on a training contract at the Waratahs,supplementing his income doing maintenance at Killara Golf Club and playing Shute Shield rugby.
After leaving St Joseph’s in Hunters Hill at 18,Heaven was offered the opportunity to join Lyon in France in the Top 14 and eventually joined their academy,making his first team debut at 19 off the bench against Pau. Heaven arrived in one of France’s gastronomic centres unsure of what he had got himself into,but quickly built a fluency in the language and on the rugby field that changed his life.
“I had no understanding of what France was like,” he says. “I didn’t speak a word of French,so it was pretty daunting at first,but I was pretty blessed to be able to live with a French family for a while and they helped me out. I played rugby with the son and the mother was English,so they helped me out when needed,so I was very lucky.”
Heaven’s performances in Lyon’s academy also brought him early international recognition,but from an unlikely source. The Spain under-20s were alerted to Heaven’s eligibility via his grandmother and he briefly donned the red jersey of Los Leones in a series of trial matches.
“I spoke to my grandma and I got her to send over her birth certificate,and then I sent that over to them[Spain] and,fair enough,I qualified,” he says. “And so I was asked to tour with them during a few camps and whatnot,and we played a trial against a few different French teams.
Julian Heaven in action during the round seven Super Rugby Pacific match against the ACT Brumbies.Getty
“I think they were pretty impressed with me;the following year they actually asked me to join the national squad to be one of the hookers,I decided to decline that offer because I wanted to focus on my development with Lyon.”
Heaven mastered the language to such an extent he enrolled in a business degree in Lyon with classmates that included French Olympians. He was also on course to qualify as a JIFF,the French acronym that describes the regulation of home-grown players appearing in French club squads.
Each team in France needs to field an average of 16 JIFF players,meaning if you qualify,you have increased your earning potential significantly across the top two fully professional French leagues. Heaven had spent three years in an approved French training centre,but was ultimately undone by bureaucracy.
“It was a really disappointing end to my time in Lyon in terms of qualifying for my JIFF,” Heaven says. “My understanding was that I was going to qualify because I did three years in the Centre de Formation,which is the training centre[in Lyon].
“Essentially for qualification you have to do three years in the training centre before the age of,I think 23 or 22,except when we got to the end of my time at Lyon,and it wasn’t looking like I was going to get re-signed,they determined that the first year that I signed the contract,I wasn’t valid.
“They didn’t have me on the right contract to qualify,so I don’t know who’s at fault there,but it was disappointing. I had an offer at Stade Français that fell through because I wasn’t qualified,and so that’s the reason I decided to come back to Australia.”
Julian Heaven scores against the Crusaders at Allianz StadiumGetty
That was two years ago and Heaven returned to play for Easts’ second-grade side,with whom he went on to win the grand final against Sydney University. As a child,Heaven once used a Waratahs flag as a pillow liner and dreamed of representing his home team.
After starring for Easts’ first grade last year in the Shute Shield,an Achilles injury to Wallaby David Porecki got him into the Waratahs squad this year and he made his long-awaited debut in round two in a win against the Crusaders in Melbourne.
“In terms of the day,it was an absolute dream come true;it’s something I’ve been working towards my whole life and I’ve been a supporter of the Waratahs since I was six,” Heaven says.
“A few months before that I was in France watching the World Cup and then I was playing with some of those players I was watching.
“It’s definitely something I’ve worked hard for and I’ve always kind of set high personal standards. I will continue to work on my game.”
Heaven remains on an injury cover contract at the Waratahs after Porecki and Mahe Vailanu went down. Heaven has credited Porecki for sharing knowledge that has considerably improved his work at set pieces,including lineouts and scrums.
After arguably becoming the Waratahs’ find of the season,the hooker is keen to extend his stay with his boyhood club and will keep grasping the opportunities as they come.
“I’m just fully committed to making a career as a professional rugby player in Australia and if that doesn’t work out for me,then so be it,” Heaven said. “I’ll keep tapping away but if that doesn’t work again,then I think I’ll have to look at other opportunities but yeah,for me,the optimal goal would be playing at the highest level in Australia.”
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