Leah Lyons (born 27 November 1994) is an Irish rugby player from Cork. She plays prop for

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

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 ...

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 has represented Ireland since 2016.

Club career

Lyons' father Michael founded the Fermoy Lionesses and gave herself and her sister Adena scrum caps and a ball when they were just six but she started out playing in all-boys teams and didn't get to play on an all-girls' team until U13 level. She was a ball-girl in Thomond Park when Ireland played England there in the 2007 Women's Six Nations. She moved to

Highfield RFC Highfield Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Cork, Ireland, playing in Division 1B of the All-Ireland League. The club was founded in 1930 and was elevated to senior status in the province of Munster in 1953. Before moving to ...

to play senior club rugby in 2013 and this resulted in her selection for her provincial side

Munster Rugby Munster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Mumhan) is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU's Munster B ...

since 2013. She worked full-time as a coach for Munster from 2017 to 2018. That contract ended in the summer of 2018 so, in a bid to get more experience as a player, she sent out emails to several

Premier 15s The Premier 15s, currently known for sponsorship purposes as the Allianz Premier 15s, is the top tier of the women's English rugby union domestic league system run by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The league was created mainly from teams in t ...

clubs, the top flight of English club rugby. Harlequins were first to get in touch and three days later she packed her car and headed to join the Surrey club. In 2019 she won a Premier 15s runner-up medal with Harlequins. She signed for Sale Sharks prior to the 2021 Premier 15s season.

International career

Lyons was first selected to join the

in November 2016. She made her Ireland debut in a November 2016 Autumn International versus England, as a replacement for Cliodhna Moloney in the unfamiliar position of hooker. She made her Six Nations debut for the

in 2017 and was Ireland's top try scorer in the 2017 Women's Six Nations, dotting down against Italy, France and England. She was selected in the Ireland squad for the

2017 Women's rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Dubl ...

in Dublin and a nominee for Ireland's 2017 Player of the Year. She played all five of Ireland's games in the 2018 Women's Six Nations and scored one try. She played in three of Ireland's games in the 2019 Women's Six Nations and scored one try. Her three appearances (against Scotland, England and Italy) in the 2020 Women's Six Nations were as a replacement. In the 2021 Women's Six Nations she was a replacement in Ireland's third-place playoff victory over Italy.

Personal life

Lyons has a twin brother and comes from

Ballyhooly Ballyhooly ()Logainm.ie, an Irish placenames databaseBaile Átha hÚllaVerified 2019-11-07. is a small village in north County Cork situated along the N72 between Castletownroche and Fermoy. Ballyhooly is home to two pubs, a church, community c ...

, the same village as Mike Ross. She studied culinary arts in

Cork Institute of Technology Cork Institute of Technology (CIT; ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Chorcaí) was an institute of technology, located in Cork, Ireland. Upon its dissolution, the institute had 17,000 students studying in art, business, engineering, music, dram ...

but did not complete her degree due to a rugby injury. During the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020 she was furloughed from her job as a coach with Surrey University and, as a result, took up a job with

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

in Guildford. In February 2018, after her parents overheard comments about her when she had just scored a try for Ireland against Wales, Lyons spoke out publicly about the need for inclusion and body positivity in sport. In May 2019 she was part of

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

's 'Try and Stop Us' campaign, revealing how rugby had helped her overcome bullying and become a role model for young rugby players.

Honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Leah Living people 1994 births Irish female rugby union players Rugby union players from County Cork Rugby union props Ireland women's international rugby union players Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Irish expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in England Harlequins Women rugby players Sale Sharks Women players Irish twins