May 6, 2025 • 8 mins
Olympic silver medallist sevens player and Super Rugby champion Bryce Heem has called time on his career.
He was contracted to the Blues for 2025 but was ruled out of the season because of a wrist injury.
He spoke to D'Arcy Waldegrave on Sportstalk.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Duncy Wildergrave
from News Talks. It'd be.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
That you were sorry for this bloke. He's got a
cup of Warriors, Blues, Nazi Pro, East Coast and Blackpool. Fine, right,
let's move on now to Bryce Haim. He's retired today,
he joins us.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Now, Hi, Bryce, Hey mate, how are you going?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I'm going? Well, what about yourself? Yeah, put a cap
on our long career of rugby today. You'd be breathing
any regrets? You're still quite happy with that call?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
No, I'm very happy.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I'm very happy, quite content, and yeah, I got a
young family and you.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Know, I got lots to look forward to be on retirement.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
What was the driver? What was the tipping point we
needed to go? You know what? I'm done.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
It's actually the injury because it's a bit of a
funny one, you know. It's it's a wrist injury, but
there's just a lot of things going on inside of
my wrist, and it's a lot of a pre existing
and then there's some acute injuries and basically last last
year NBC, there was a lot to try and push
through in terms of pain and all that sort of stuff,
and I was taking pain killers to get through trainings
(01:17):
and through games, and the surgery I was going to
need to try and fix it wasn't guaranteed to fix it,
and so there was just a lot of, I guess,
gray area around the whole thing. And yeah, I guess
I thought I'd had a good run. I mean, fourteen
years of professional footing and got to win a title
last year, which was awesome, and so yeah, I don't
really have any regrets when I look back on my career,
(01:39):
and just thought it was good timing, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So you nursed this right the way through summer and
then the realization the dawning. Was there a particular moment
where they went, look, this is not going to work. Possibly,
we don't know. Was there any trigger moment there or
just a slow development?
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Yeah, no, I guess there was a trigger moment. It
was just back and forth conversations with the specialists really
and yeah, just no real guarantees that any of the
surgeries would work, and one thing guaranteed to work was
a partial fuse of some kind. And then obviously with
the partial fuse, a lot to lose a lot of
(02:16):
range and things like that also along recovery as well.
Wish i'd missed the missed the season with so. Like
I said before, to make the decision to retire, wasn't
that hard in my hand, was kind of forced, I guess,
no pun intended.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Well, it came out like that, right, you're looking back
at your career. You said fourteen years what you started
things off with Auckland. I think it was what twenty
and ten? And then you bounce all over the show
but a northern bit of Tasman, but the chiefs, but
of Auckland, went overseas, went to Worcester, went too long,
came back, played for the Blues. It was just endless
(02:55):
bouncing around That keep you interested, wouldn't it?
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Yeah? Yeah it did, and yeah I loved it. You know,
I met so many cool people along my journey, and yeah,
I guess bouncing around has its pros, and also been
away from family isn't always easy. But then yeah, the
people you meet, and you know, the adventure you go on,
there's just one to be enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I guess.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
I mean that's how I always looked at it when
I was moving around, and yeah, I loved every bit
of it.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
When you look back, you managed to get international representation,
you played for New Zealand and seven side there what
you picked up a silver back in twenty fourteen in Glasgow.
The fact you didn't go one step further, any resentment
there at all or no.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Not really?
Speaker 4 (03:41):
I guess, you know, I guess those sort of decisions
you have to make when you're playing footy and whatnot.
And I guess I played a lot of sevens when
I was a bit younger and then got a good
offer to go overseas after being at the Chiefs for
only a year, and I just thought, you know, it
took me a little while to get here to the Chiefs,
and who knows if I even, you know, get an
(04:01):
opportunity to go to that next step. And I knew
that I always wanted to go travel, and so did
my wife, so you know, we just decided, you know,
let's go do it and have a noe. And to
be honest, I'm glad I did it before we had
kids and and all that sort of stuff, because you know,
the travel and the overseas experiences is different when.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
You near those little ones.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
So yeah, I don't know if I can look back
at it with any any regret in terms of, you know,
trying to get that next step. I'm pretty happy that
I came back to New Zealand and you know, played
played some good footy and competed with the best of
them and probably knew, you know that maybe if I
was a bit younger, i'd probably you know, be thereabouts.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So I'm pretty pretty happy. I'm pretty content, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
You're O from Worcester. You had a great time of
it over there, didn't you. You had seventy odd appearances,
you scored a bucket full of try so it really
appealed to you that that way of life and what
wester brought to you. What was it about playing for
Worster that that made you play so well?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Bryce, Jeez, I don't know, I just really I guess
I learned a lot at the Chiefs too under Dave
Rennie and and you know Wayne Smith was in there
as well, and I guess they just opened my eyes
to a different way of playing and way of seeing
the game as well, which I guess just educated me
a bit more, especially after playing sevens for so long
(05:28):
and then off the back of that going into wards the.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
I guess I just really enjoyed my footy.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Enjoyed Beneverse's it's I guess, a fresh start and with
a bunch bunch of great, great people.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Really it was, I know, yeah, a combination of things.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I guess you played your last pro game in Super
Rugby and walked off with a title. Talk about satisfaction.
I mean, you can't control that narrative, but you've got
a lot back and go, yes, and it was against
your old team, the Chiefs, but a bit of sweetness
in there, Bryce.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
I couldn't couldn't have I guess ritt it up any
better myself. And in hindsight, I didn't know that was
going to be the end. I was hoping, you know,
to check the boots on at least for one more
year and and go again and hopefully get.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Back to backs.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
But you know, the way it ended, it was. It was, Yeah,
I guess a lot of sweetness there. And that season
or the final, I guess was a pretty convincing win
and just a real good statement on the end of
that season. And I guess a bit of a rollercoast
right off the blues of making finals and losing and
(06:44):
things like that, and then we finally finally did it,
and I guess at that time.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I didn't know that that was going to be the end,
but yeah, I look back at it now and just yeah,
it was.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
It's great to have that to look back on there
and to have I guess ticked that off as an achievement, and.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
You booking the dream PC career as well, I believe
playing well for Auckland.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
North Yes, yes, yes, so I played for the New
Zealand Barbarians versus the the Maori All Black back in
twenty ten I think it was, And yeah, that's that
was up in Northland and that's that's where I played
my last game as well, So that's pretty cool as well.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I guess it seemed to work out. One last thing
for you, Bryce Seman, Thanks so much for sharing your
time in thoughts with us. How are the Blues going
to go this year? Do you reckon the Chiefs have
got their number? Because this year the competition has been wild, bro.
I'm sure we've been enjoying it, although you might have
been a bit jealousy not out there playing, but the
Blues aren't having a good time. Who do you like
(07:48):
to take away the chocolates?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
At the end. Jeez. Yeah, I guess the whole conference
is fairly tight.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
And I guess that game of the weekend, you know,
the Hurricanes played bloody well.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Again's a good Chiefs side.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
You know, I know they were Chiefs were missing a
couple of players, but still, you know, I guess it
goes to show that, you know, any team on their
day can come out on top. You know, I still
haven't ridden the Blues off. You know, They've got a
special place in my heart. And they had a good
win at the weekend. Even though it wasn't you know
that pretty, it was still a win and they got
(08:20):
three games left to nail it out and iron out
all those creases. So let's hope, well, I hope they can.
They can do it and get back to where we
were last year.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Duncy Wildergrave
from News Talks. It'd be.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
That you were sorry for this bloke. He's got a
cup of Warriors, Blues, Nazi Pro, East Coast and Blackpool. Fine, right,
let's move on now to Bryce Haim. He's retired today,
he joins us.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Now, Hi, Bryce, Hey mate, how are you going?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I'm going? Well, what about yourself? Yeah, put a cap
on our long career of rugby today. You'd be breathing
any regrets? You're still quite happy with that call?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
No, I'm very happy.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I'm very happy, quite content, and yeah, I got a
young family and you.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Know, I got lots to look forward to be on retirement.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
What was the driver? What was the tipping point we
needed to go? You know what? I'm done.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
It's actually the injury because it's a bit of a
funny one, you know. It's it's a wrist injury, but
there's just a lot of things going on inside of
my wrist, and it's a lot of a pre existing
and then there's some acute injuries and basically last last
year NBC, there was a lot to try and push
through in terms of pain and all that sort of stuff,
and I was taking pain killers to get through trainings
(01:17):
and through games, and the surgery I was going to
need to try and fix it wasn't guaranteed to fix it,
and so there was just a lot of, I guess,
gray area around the whole thing. And yeah, I guess
I thought I'd had a good run. I mean, fourteen
years of professional footing and got to win a title
last year, which was awesome, and so yeah, I don't
really have any regrets when I look back on my career,
(01:39):
and just thought it was good timing, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So you nursed this right the way through summer and
then the realization the dawning. Was there a particular moment
where they went, look, this is not going to work. Possibly,
we don't know. Was there any trigger moment there or
just a slow development?
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Yeah, no, I guess there was a trigger moment. It
was just back and forth conversations with the specialists really
and yeah, just no real guarantees that any of the
surgeries would work, and one thing guaranteed to work was
a partial fuse of some kind. And then obviously with
the partial fuse, a lot to lose a lot of
(02:16):
range and things like that also along recovery as well.
Wish i'd missed the missed the season with so. Like
I said before, to make the decision to retire, wasn't
that hard in my hand, was kind of forced, I guess,
no pun intended.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Well, it came out like that, right, you're looking back
at your career. You said fourteen years what you started
things off with Auckland. I think it was what twenty
and ten? And then you bounce all over the show
but a northern bit of Tasman, but the chiefs, but
of Auckland, went overseas, went to Worcester, went too long,
came back, played for the Blues. It was just endless
(02:55):
bouncing around That keep you interested, wouldn't it?
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Yeah? Yeah it did, and yeah I loved it. You know,
I met so many cool people along my journey, and yeah,
I guess bouncing around has its pros, and also been
away from family isn't always easy. But then yeah, the
people you meet, and you know, the adventure you go on,
there's just one to be enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I guess.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
I mean that's how I always looked at it when
I was moving around, and yeah, I loved every bit
of it.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
When you look back, you managed to get international representation,
you played for New Zealand and seven side there what
you picked up a silver back in twenty fourteen in Glasgow.
The fact you didn't go one step further, any resentment
there at all or no.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Not really?
Speaker 4 (03:41):
I guess, you know, I guess those sort of decisions
you have to make when you're playing footy and whatnot.
And I guess I played a lot of sevens when
I was a bit younger and then got a good
offer to go overseas after being at the Chiefs for
only a year, and I just thought, you know, it
took me a little while to get here to the Chiefs,
and who knows if I even, you know, get an
(04:01):
opportunity to go to that next step. And I knew
that I always wanted to go travel, and so did
my wife, so you know, we just decided, you know,
let's go do it and have a noe. And to
be honest, I'm glad I did it before we had
kids and and all that sort of stuff, because you know,
the travel and the overseas experiences is different when.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
You near those little ones.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
So yeah, I don't know if I can look back
at it with any any regret in terms of, you know,
trying to get that next step. I'm pretty happy that
I came back to New Zealand and you know, played
played some good footy and competed with the best of
them and probably knew, you know that maybe if I
was a bit younger, i'd probably you know, be thereabouts.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So I'm pretty pretty happy. I'm pretty content, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
You're O from Worcester. You had a great time of
it over there, didn't you. You had seventy odd appearances,
you scored a bucket full of try so it really
appealed to you that that way of life and what
wester brought to you. What was it about playing for
Worster that that made you play so well?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Bryce, Jeez, I don't know, I just really I guess
I learned a lot at the Chiefs too under Dave
Rennie and and you know Wayne Smith was in there
as well, and I guess they just opened my eyes
to a different way of playing and way of seeing
the game as well, which I guess just educated me
a bit more, especially after playing sevens for so long
(05:28):
and then off the back of that going into wards the.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
I guess I just really enjoyed my footy.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Enjoyed Beneverse's it's I guess, a fresh start and with
a bunch bunch of great, great people.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Really it was, I know, yeah, a combination of things.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I guess you played your last pro game in Super
Rugby and walked off with a title. Talk about satisfaction.
I mean, you can't control that narrative, but you've got
a lot back and go, yes, and it was against
your old team, the Chiefs, but a bit of sweetness
in there, Bryce.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
I couldn't couldn't have I guess ritt it up any
better myself. And in hindsight, I didn't know that was
going to be the end. I was hoping, you know,
to check the boots on at least for one more
year and and go again and hopefully get.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Back to backs.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
But you know, the way it ended, it was. It was, Yeah,
I guess a lot of sweetness there. And that season
or the final, I guess was a pretty convincing win
and just a real good statement on the end of
that season. And I guess a bit of a rollercoast
right off the blues of making finals and losing and
(06:44):
things like that, and then we finally finally did it,
and I guess at that time.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
I didn't know that that was going to be the end,
but yeah, I look back at it now and just yeah,
it was.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
It's great to have that to look back on there
and to have I guess ticked that off as an achievement, and.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
You booking the dream PC career as well, I believe
playing well for Auckland.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
North Yes, yes, yes, so I played for the New
Zealand Barbarians versus the the Maori All Black back in
twenty ten I think it was, And yeah, that's that
was up in Northland and that's that's where I played
my last game as well, So that's pretty cool as well.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I guess it seemed to work out. One last thing
for you, Bryce Seman, Thanks so much for sharing your
time in thoughts with us. How are the Blues going
to go this year? Do you reckon the Chiefs have
got their number? Because this year the competition has been wild, bro.
I'm sure we've been enjoying it, although you might have
been a bit jealousy not out there playing, but the
Blues aren't having a good time. Who do you like
(07:48):
to take away the chocolates?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
At the end. Jeez. Yeah, I guess the whole conference
is fairly tight.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
And I guess that game of the weekend, you know,
the Hurricanes played bloody well.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Again's a good Chiefs side.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
You know, I know they were Chiefs were missing a
couple of players, but still, you know, I guess it
goes to show that, you know, any team on their
day can come out on top. You know, I still
haven't ridden the Blues off. You know, They've got a
special place in my heart. And they had a good
win at the weekend. Even though it wasn't you know
that pretty, it was still a win and they got
(08:20):
three games left to nail it out and iron out
all those creases. So let's hope, well, I hope they can.
They can do it and get back to where we
were last year.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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