James Heaslip (born 15 December 1983) is an Irish former

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 represented

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

. He played as a number 8. Heaslip earned 95 caps for Ireland during his international career from 2006 to 2017, making him one of the most capped players in Irish national team history.

Early life

Heaslip was born in Tiberias, Israel, while his father, retired Brigadier General Richard Heaslip, was there on duty with

UNIFIL The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (; ), or UNIFIL (; ) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426, and several further resolutions in 2006 to con ...

. His father was one of the founding officers of the elite

Army Ranger Wing The Army Ranger Wing (ARW) (, "''SFA''") is the special forces, special operations force of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces, the military of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is a branch of the Irish Army, it also selects pers ...

(ARW), Ireland's special operations force. The youngest of four children, he has two brothers and a sister. Jamie and his family moved back to Ireland when he was still young, settling in the town of

Naas Naas ( ; or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In 2022, it had a population of 26,180, making it the largest town in County Kildare (ahead of Newbridge, County Kildare, Newbridge) and the List of urban ar ...

where he lived until moving to Dublin aged 17. He attended Newbridge College, in

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

. In 2004, he starred in the U-21 World Cup, held in Scotland, where Ireland finished as runners-up to New Zealand. Following his performance, Heaslip was nominated for the IRB Under-21 World Player of the Year award.

Professional career

Heaslip made his

senior debut in the Celtic League in March 2005. Heaslip was named in the first Celtic League Dream Team in 2007 and along with Ben Blair and Felipe Contepomi retained his place in 2008, in 2009 he became the only player to have been named in all three sides and retained his unique record in 2010. Heaslip scored his side’s only try in the Heineken Cup semi-final in which Leinster were defeated 26–16 by the eventual champions Toulouse.

International career

The first Irish cap he received was in an autumn series test of 2006 against the

Pacific Islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

. He had the honour of being the 1000th player to wear the green of Ireland. He was a member of the victorious Ireland team that won the

2009 Six Nations Championship The 2009 Six Nations Championship, known as the RBS 6 Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 10th Six Nations Championship, and the 115th international championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the six major European national ...

and Grand Slam He also was nominated for the IRB International Player of the Year for 2009. Heaslip was sent off for Ireland against New Zealand on 12 June 2010, the first Irish player to be sent off in the professional era, for striking an opposition player (

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captain (sports), captained the New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 t ...

) with his knee in frustration. He subsequently received a five-week suspension from the International Rugby Board. Heaslip was selected to captain Ireland against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in the 2012 Autumn Tests, after

Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside Centre (rugby union), centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster Rugby, Leinster and for Ireland national rugby union te ...

, Paul O'Connell and Rory Best were all ruled out through injury. In January 2013, Heaslip was named by

Declan Kidney Declan Kidney (born 20 October 1959) is an Irish rugby union coach. He was the head coach of the Ireland national rugby union team from 2008 to 2013, where he won the 2009 Six Nations with a Grand Slam, winning the 2009 IRB Coach of the Year a ...

as the new Ireland captain for the

2013 Six Nations Championship The 2013 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2013 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 14th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship ...

, replacing

who had held the role since 2003. Heaslip was nominated for

World Rugby Player of the Year The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an award presented annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. It is given to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". First presente ...

in 2016, winning the award for Try of the Year against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 12 March in the 2016 Six Nations Championship. On 26 February 2018, Heaslip announced his retirement from rugby due to injury. He had been due to play for Ireland against England in the

2017 Six Nations Championship The 2017 Six Nations Championship was the 18th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. The tournament was also known as the RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by NatWest ...

on 18 March, but pulled out during the warm-up with what seemed like an innocuous injury at the time. .

Lions

Heaslip was a member of the

squad for the 2009 tour to South Africa, where started all three tests on the tour. He was also selected for the

2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia The 2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia was a rugby union tour during June and July 2013. The British & Irish Lions played ten matches - a three-Test match (rugby union), test series against Australia national rugby union team, Austra ...

Personal life

In September 2014 he bought Bellamy's Pub in Ballsbridge with Leinster teammates Rob Kearney, Dave Kearney and Seán O'Brien. After an extensive refurbishment it was reopened as The Bridge 1859. Heaslip opened a new bar called "Lemon and Duke" in the heart of Dublin with a few of his teammates. In 2019 he was added to the

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

team of TV analysts for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup () was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening matc ...

and in 2021 he was included in the BBC commentary team for the Six Nations Championship.

Honours

Team

;Leinster *

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

(4): 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2017-18 * Pro12 (3): 2007–08, 2012–13, 2013–14 * European Challenge Cup (1): 2012–13 ;Ireland *

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

(3):

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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 ...

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 ...

* Triple Crown (2): 2007 & 2009 * Grand Slam (1):

*World Rugby Try of the Year: 2016 *World Rugby Men's 15s Try of the Decade: 2010–19 ;British & Irish Lions *British & Irish Lions tours (2):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, *Series Winner (1):

Individual

* IRUPA Supporters player of the year: 2010 *Celtic League Dream Team 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 *IRP Special Merit Award: 2019 *IRP Men’s 15s Try of the Decade: 2020 Nominations *

: 2009, 2016 *EPCR European Player of the Year: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015

References

External links

Leinster profileIRFU profileB&I Lions profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heaslip, Jamie 1983 births 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Living people Dublin University Football Club players People educated at Newbridge College Leinster Rugby players Rugby union number eights Ireland international rugby union players Ireland national rugby union team captains British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland People from Tiberias Sportspeople from Northern District (Israel) Rugby union players from County Kildare Irish expatriates in Israel 2011 Rugby World Cup players 2015 Rugby World Cup players