Dave Harvey is heading to Brazil. Photo: JB Photography.

by Brendan Bradford –

West Harbour will be without Dave Harvey for a month after the Pirates playmaker took-off for Brazil on Sunday.

The soccer-mad sharpshooter will take in a couple of games at the World Cup this month, but his real mission is to meet with Brazilian rugby officials with an eye to representing the country in Sevens at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero.

The 32-year old playmaker, who had a successful stint with the Western Force in 2012, qualifies for Brazilian representation through his mother and will have a couple of training sessions over the next few weeks.

Harvey in action for West Harbour in the Shute Shield. Photo: Pat Dunne

“On my player profile my agent had ‘Brazilian mother’, so they stumbled across that and touched base about two years ago” he told Rugby News.

“I go into camp for ten days or so and basically I’m over there for a week or two then go into camp for about 14 days for training, testing, team-bonding and getting to know everyone and making sure I pass all their fitness tests.”

Although initial contact was made two years ago, Harvey says the process has been pretty laborious since he decided to take the plunge.

“It was a long process, they had to send my mum’s original birth certificate back to Brazil to get reissued and sent back, and we had to go to the consulate and sort out a few more things,” he said.

“I’m lucky I have a Brazilian cousin over here who helped out. It usually takes about 90 days but they did it in 20-odd and I only picked the passport up last Thursday.”

Ranked 37th in the world in the 15-aside version of the game, it’s the ninth-placed women’s Sevens team currently flying the Brazilian the flag, but Harvey has a few directives from the coaching staff on how to make progress.

“The big thing is to show them more than what the already have, otherwise there’s no point picking a half Brazilian” he said.

“I’ve seen a few clips on the internet and it’s a bit like Kenya when they started with a lot of speed, fitness and physicality and hopefully I can add a bit of game knowledge and ball playing into what they’ve got.

“They want me to add a bit of leadership on the field too in terms of what to do in certain areas, what lines to run and things like that.”

West Harbour and Deadwood teammates Dave Harvey and Tito Mua take on Parramatta’s defence. Photo: Pat Dunne.

Currently sitting atop the Shute Shield point-scoring table – largely due to his radar-like accuracy from the kicking tee – Brazil is a fitting destination and he’s not missing out on the opportunity soak up the national sport.

“I’m going to about seven World Cup games including a couple of Australia games, so I can’t wait for that,” he said.

“It’s disappointing to say goodbye to the Pirates guys because we’ve been having so much fun, but I’ll be back for the last two games, so hopefully the boys can kick on and get into the semi-finals.”

All going according to plan, the two-time Ken Catchpole Medal winner will kick-off a year of tournaments with Brazil at the Central Coast Sevens this October.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to make a bit of an impression there, especially because it’s just an hour and a half from home rather than 21 hours,” he said.

“It means spending time away from my family, but the Olympics is an opportunity I can’t pass up.”