Chris Eves (born 11 December 1987) is a

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player who currently plays as a

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for the

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in New Zealand's domestic

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

and the

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in the international

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competition.

Early career

Born in Henderson, in the suburbs of Auckland, New Zealand, Eves was educated at

Massey High School Massey High School is a co-educational state secondary school in West Auckland, New Zealand established in 1969. The school is located on the western edge of the city, thus obtaining students from both suburban and rural backgrounds. In 2017 it w ...

where he played first XV rugby for 3 years. During his high school years, he was part of school touring groups to Europe, Australia and South Africa as well as working his way through the youth structures of his local province, .

Senior career

Eves first played provincial rugby with his home province, North Harbour, during the

2008 Air New Zealand Cup The 2008 Air New Zealand Cup was a provincial rugby union competition involving 14 teams from New Zealand. Matches started on Thursday 31 July 2008, and continued until the final on 25 October 2008. This season was the third of the expanded co ...

. He made 2 appearances and scored 1 try but failed to build on his early breakthrough and soon found himself in the rugby wilderness without a contract with one of New Zealand's senior provinces. Next, his career took a rather untrodden path to where he would spend 2 seasons playing for Agronomia. He was on the verge of making Portugal's national squad, however, their failure to qualify for the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

made him rethink his options. Eves returned to New Zealand in 2012 and began playing for Wests Roosters in Wellington's local club rugby competition. Local province, the Lions offered him a contract ahead of the

2013 ITM Cup Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

, however, with his chances of getting regular game time slim, he opted to head north to

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

and join the Turbos on loan. Eves immediately made a big impression with the Turbos, playing 10 times for them in what was a disappointing 2013 season which saw them finish 5th in the Championship.

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was much more positive, with the men from Palmerston North earning promotion to the Premiership for 2015 after a 32-24 win over in the final with Eves, now on a permanent contract with the Turbos, once more playing 10 times during the year. Eves missed the Turbos entire Premiership campaign in

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with a hamstring injury sustained playing in the Super Rugby final with the Hurricanes, and they were once again a Championship side when he made his return in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. He featured in all 10 of their regular season games, starting 5 times and scoring 2 tries as they ended up in 5th place on the Championship log, just outside of the promotion playoff places. Eves signed with North Harbour for the

2017 Mitre 10 Cup The 2017 Mitre 10 Cup season was the twelfth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 17, when North Harbour hosted Otago. It involved the top fourteen ...

Season. Eves signed with

for the

2019 Mitre 10 Cup The 2019 Mitre 10 Cup season was the fourteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 8, when Southland hosted Northland. It involved the top fourtee ...

Season. Here, he helped them gain a promotion into the

Premiership for the 2020 season

Super Rugby

Good performances in Wellington club rugby for Wests Roosters saw Eves involved with the Development side in 2013 and he was subsequently promoted to their wider training squad for

. Due to a series of injuries in the franchise's front row, he was able to make 11 substitute appearances throughout the campaign and then continued his ascendancy by being named in the 'Canes senior squad for the first time in

. The Hurricanes were losing finalists in 2015, being beaten 21-14 at home by New Zealand rivals, the in the final. Eves was in fine form, featuring in 17 of their 18 games during the season, with all but 2 of these appearances coming from the replacements bench. The men from Wellington went one better in

, defeating the 20-3 in the final to be crowned Super Rugby champions. Eves once again played 17 times and this time amassed 4 starting appearances. After Eves' contract with the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

ended in 2019 he was signed by

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

side

San Diego Legion The San Diego Legion is an American professional rugby union team based in San Diego, California. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in Major League Rugby. Home field The team plays at Snapdragon Stadium, which is located on the campus o ...

before promptly singing with

side the

for the

2020 Super Rugby season The 2020 Super Rugby season was the 25th season of Super Rugby, an international men's rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR involving teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It is the third tournament in its ...

International

Following on from a solid domestic season with Manawatu in 2013, Eves was named in the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing i ...

squad ahead of their 2013 tour of North America. He debuted for the Māori in their 40-15 rout of in

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, coming on as a 66th minute replacement for Kane Hames. One week later he earned a second cap in the 29-19 win over the where he was once again a second-half replacement for Hames. One year later and Eves was once again in the Māori squad for their 2 test series with . He earned a first start and scored his first try for the Māori in their 61-21 win in

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in the first test before once again starting in the much tighter second test in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

a week later where he was substituted by Hurricanes teammate Brendon Edmonds in the 58th minute of a 20-18 victory. Eves didn't play for the Māori in 2015 and had to wait almost 2 years between gaining is 4th and 5th caps. He featured as a second-half replacement for Kane Hames in all 3 matches during the

2016 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2016 end-of-year rugby union internationals, also known as the ''2016 Autumn Internationals'' in the Northern Hemisphere, were a series of international rugby union matches predominantly played between the visiting Southern Hemisphere countries: ...

, victories over the USA and Harlequins and a defeat to

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Career Honours

Hurricanes *

Manawatu * ITM Cup Championship -

Super Rugby Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eves, Chris Living people New Zealand rugby union players 1987 births North Harbour rugby union players Manawatu rugby union players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Māori All Blacks players Rugby union players from Auckland Rugby union props New Zealand expatriate rugby union players Waikato Tainui people Tainui people Sunwolves players