Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (born 26 April 1995) is an Irish rugby sevens and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player, who has represented Ireland in both formats. At club level, she has played for Munster 15s and

Railway Union The Railway Union ( fi, Rautatiealan Unioni, RAU) is a trade union representing drivers, traffic controllers and office staff on the railways in Finland. The union was founded on 16 November 2018, when the Union of Locomotive Drivers merged with ...

. Murphy Crowe was the leading

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scorer at the

2018–19 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series The 2018–19 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the seventh edition of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, global circuit for women's national rugby sevens teams, organised by World Rugby. There were six tournament events scheduled on th ...

Club career

As a youngster, Murphy Crowe participated in

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, and competed in the 100 metres and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

. Aged 15, Murphy Crowe started playing rugby in Clanwilliam. She plays as a winger. In 2012, Murphy Crowe joined Munster Rugby's women's under-18 team. Aged 18, Murphy Crowe joined their senior team, where she played rugby union (15s rugby). She has also played club rugby for

. She was part of the Railway Union team that won the 2019 All-Ireland final. In 2020, Murphy Crowe returned to playing 15s rugby, as rugby sevens matches were on hold due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. She had not played 15s rugby since the 2014–15 season.

International career

Rugby sevens

In 2013, Murphy Crowe played sevens rugby for Ireland under-19s, and was in training camps with the senior team. Murphy Crowe made her debut for the Ireland senior team at the 2014 China Women's Sevens in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, China. She scored four tries on the first day of the 2017 Canada Women's Sevens. Murphy Crowe played in the

2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the seventh edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. Organised by World Rugby, it was held at AT&T Park, now known as Oracle Park, in San Francisco, United States. A total of 84 matches were played over three da ...

, where she scored two tries in Ireland's round of 16 match against

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, which helped them progress to the quarter-finals. In Ireland's 2018 Dubai Women's Sevens match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, Murphy Crowe scored three tries. At the 2019 Sydney Women's Sevens, Murphy Crowe scored for Ireland in their match against

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, as Ireland reached their first Sevens Series semi-final. She scored a try in the semi-final, as Ireland lost 22–7 to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. She also scored a hat-trick against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

at the 2019 Japan Women's Sevens. Murphy Crowe was the leading

scorer at the

, becoming the first woman not from Australia or New Zealand to achieve the feat. She scored a total of 35 tries in the competition. She was additionally named in the tournament's Dream Team. As of 2021, Murphy Crowe had made 131 appearances for Ireland sevens team, scoring 98 tries. She was the top try scorer in the

2021–22 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series The 2021–22 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the ninth edition of the global circuit for women's national rugby sevens teams, organised by World Rugby. The ninth edition was meant to be played a year earlier, but the 2021 Series was cancel ...

. She scored 36 tries in the

, the most of any player. She was nominated for World Rugby women's sevens player of the year in 2022. She made her 50th appearance for Ireland 7s at the 2022 Dubai Women's Sevens.

Rugby union

Murphy Crowe was called up to the Ireland 15s team for the

2021 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship was the 20th series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition between England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The 2021 tournament was given a change o ...

; she was one of five uncapped rugby sevens players in the squad. She was selected as a substitute for Ireland's match against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and made her debut in the match. She was

sin bin The penalty box or sin bin (sometimes called the bad box, or simply bin or box) is the area in ice hockey, rugby union, rugby league, roller derby and some other sports where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty, for an offence n ...

ned for a high tackle. She made her first start for Ireland in the third-place playoff match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

; she scored two tries as Ireland won 25–5. She played in Ireland's

2021 Rugby World Cup qualifying The qualification process for the 2021 Rugby World Cup began on 9 August 2019 with 12 teams qualifying to the tournament which will be held in New Zealand. The 2021 Rugby World Cup was postponed by one year in March 2021 to 2022 due to the COVID-1 ...

matches, as they failed to qualify for the main tournament. Later in 2021, she played in a match against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. As of December 2022, Murphy-Crowe had made nine appearances for the Ireland 15s team.

Personal life

Murphy Crowe is the eldest of five children. Growing up, she attended St.Anne’s Secondary School, in Tipperary Town, and later went on to study in Setanta College, Thurles. She is from a small village called Lattin in

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

, Republic of Ireland. She currently resides in South Dublin

References

External links

Ireland rugby sevens profile

Ireland rugby 15s profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy Crowe, Amee Leigh Rugby union players from County Tipperary 1995 births Living people Ireland women's international rugby union players Irish female rugby union players Ireland international women's rugby sevens players Irish rugby sevens players Female rugby sevens players Munster Rugby women's players Railway Union rugby union players Rugby union wings