The centre positions in many teams can be a place for enforcers, and Eve Higgins feels comfortable there with Ireland.
The sociology graduate, who went on to do a master’s degree in criminology, has flirted with the idea of one day becoming a detective, with notions of curbing attacks a familiar theme. Against Scotland this Sunday, part of her job spec will be to unlock the Scottish defensive line.
“I did sociology and history as my undergrad and then criminology as a master’s. I loved it,” she says. “Growing up I loved crime books, I loved Thomas Harris’ series on Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and all that. It was something that I realised one day, I might want to be a detective. That’s what led me to doing criminology.
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“It was only offered as a master’s in UCD [University College Dublin], and I knew I needed to be based centrally in Dublin, or studying in Dublin, so I decided to do history and sociology for the craic, then do criminology as my master’s, and I loved it.”
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Higgins has been in and around Ireland teams since she was a teenager. Like many in the squad, she graduated through the Sevens team and is another one of the Olympic veterans who has successfully moved to the 15s game.
Rugby has been a dominant force in her life since she imagined pulling on an Irish jersey as a child growing up in Lucan and playing rugby at Barnhall RFC.
“I finished my master’s the year before the Olympics,” she says. “So I spent the year just actually having conversations with people, from gardaí to detectives to people in Cab [Criminal Assets Bureau], and just getting conversations going of what it would look like.
“It’s something that’s very much in the back of my head. But it’s not very feasible while I’m playing rugby.”
Much has been made of the expected record crowd of close to 30,000 who will attend the match. Higgins has played in front of big attendances before in the World Cup and in the Stade de France at Paris 2024, where the stadium at St Denis set a record of 66,000 for the first day’s Sevens play.
But Dublin will be better in a different kind of way as the colour green will dominate the terraces and stands.
“I have been a part of days that there’s been huge crowds in stadiums, but the only part I’ve come close to maybe seeing this much green jerseys in the crowd or green support would be when we played New Zealand in Brighton [in the World Cup],” she says.
“There were probably 20,000 Irish fans in the stadium, and that was extremely special for us to run out and hear the anthem being sung by so many Irish. I think that’s what’s going to be so special about this weekend. Some of us have played in big crowds, but we haven’t played in big crowds that’s full of Irish people. It’s going to be special to have that, but in Irish jerseys. Green shirts.”
On the pitch some frustration has crept in. The Irish team has not taken what they might have from matches when the opportunities were available and the scoreboard has punished them for it.
A more calibrated game plan and steady heads could reap more for Ireland than in the first four Test matches. Against France, Ireland were over the line several times but lacked the execution to deliver tries.
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“Probably our execution, being clinical, is something that we can very much look back on our first four games,” says Higgins. “It’s frustrating. We played two of the top four teams in women’s rugby, France and England. We can look back in those games and say we were in it. There were times that if we made a different decision or just were a bit more clinical, the scoreline looks a bit different.
“Creating those opportunities is great to look back on, but we just need to take them.”
No mystery this week in what Ireland need to do.
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