Eve Higgins (born 23 June 1999) is an Irish rugby player from Lucan, Dublin. She plays for

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 ...

Leinster rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

, the

Ireland women's national rugby Sevens team The Ireland women's national rugby sevens team participates in international competitions such as the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Rugby Europe Women's Sevens and Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics. Unlike ...

and the

Ireland women's national rugby union team The Ireland women's national rugby union team represents Ireland in international women's rugby union competitions such as the Women's Six Nations Championship and the Women's Rugby World Cup. They have also represented Ireland in the FIRA Wom ...

. She is a student at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

Club career

Higgins, whose family lived in Lucan before moving to Kilcock, started playing rugby in her local club Barnhall RFC in Leixlip which also produced Irish international

Trevor Brennan Trevor Brennan (born 29 September 1973) is an Irish former rugby union player. He played for Barnhall, Bective Rangers, St Marys College RFC, Leinster, Stade Toulousain and Ireland, being capped 13 times. He played either in the second row o ...

. She played with boys’ teams up to Under-13 level. With no girls team in the club at the time her father emailed clubs around Dublin, leading her to join All-Ireland league side Railway Union.

International career

Higgins first starred for Ireland as a play maker in Sevens rugby. In 2018, before her 19th birthday, she won her first senior cap with

at the Dubai 7s just two months after being on the U18 side that won the UK School Games. She played in 23 of Ireland's 27 games in the 2017–2018 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series and was among the nominees for its 'Rookie of the Year' award. She was also a key player when Ireland had their best ever placing (sixth) at the 2018 Rugby Sevens World Cup, scoring their only try in the fifth/sixth-place playoff against Spain. In the summer of 2018 Higgins did a two-month development placement with Bond University in Australia, playing in the Aon University Sevens. In 2019 she was a member of the Ireland team who finished fourth at the Sydney 7s, their highest placing in a World Sevens Series tournament. She was selected on that tournament's 'Dream Team'. In 2017, before she had sat her Leaving Cert, she was named in Ireland's extended XV squad for the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup but didn't make the final cut. Higgins made her debut for the Ireland women's rugby union team (XVs) in the 2021 Women's Six Nations, starting at centre against Wales and France. She competed for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Personal life

Higgins studied history and sociology in University College Dublin.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Eve 1999 births Living people Irish female rugby union players Ireland international women's rugby sevens players Irish rugby sevens players Rugby union scrum-halves People from Kilcock Rugby union players from County Kildare Rugby union centres Rugby sevens players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for Ireland