Chris Eves (born 11 December 1987) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who currently plays as a

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

for the

Bay of Plenty Steamers Bay of Plenty (often known as the Bay of Plenty Steamers) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand. The union was originally established in 1911, with the National Provincial Championship estab ...

in New Zealand's domestic

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mi ...

and the

Sunwolves The Sunwolves ( Japanese: ) – previously known as the HITO-Communications Sunwolves for sponsorship reasons – were a professional rugby union team and Japan's representative team in SANZAAR's international Super Rugby competition. The team w ...

in the international

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

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 i ...

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 National Provincial Championship was the third season of the National Provincial Championship (known as the Air New Zealand Cup for sponsorship reasons), a provincial rugby union competition involving 14 teams from New Zealand, since it ...

. 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 World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

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 The 2013 ITM Cup season was the eighth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on 15 August, when Counties Manukau (National Provincial Championship), Counties Man ...

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

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

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.

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. 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 (National Provincial Championship), North Har ...

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 with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

ended in 2019 he was signed by

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

side

San Diego Legion The San Diego Legion are an American professional rugby union team based in San Diego, California, that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). The team plays its home games at Torero Stadium. The Legion began play in the league's inaugural 2018 ...

before promptly singing with

side the

for the

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

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 is ...

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

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, 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

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

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

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

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 US and Harlequins and a defeat to

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

Personal life

Eves is a New Zealander of Māori descent (

Tainui Tainui is a tribal waka (canoe), waka confederation of New Zealand Māori people, Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki Māori, Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapo ...

descent).

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 Waikato Tainui people Tainui people Sunwolves players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan