Eve Higgins: 'It was tough. I still haven't been able to watch the game back'

Almost eight weeks have passed since Ireland departed the World Cup in deflated fashion against France. The pain etched across every player’s face wearing green. It was the game which could have been. It should have been the game which propelled Irish rugby where it has never been before- a World Cup semi-final.

But it was not to be.

Having controlled the majority of the first half against Les Bleues, unable to make a 35 phase attack count just before half-time to build a surely insurmountable lead, Ireland were unable to break through and France eventually turned the tide in the second half by scoring 18 unanswered points.

Eve Higgins played an integral part in Ireland’s campaign, scoring a stunning intercept try when their pool game against Japan hung in the balance. Her expression when the final whistle blew at Sandy Park to call time on Ireland’s World Cup dream was one of disbelief.

“It was tough. It still is tough. I still haven’t been able to watch the game back fully to be honest,” admits the centre. “I know I will before I go back into training next week but, I’ve been very much putting it off.”

“What’s going to be a huge learning for us is the conversion rate in the 22 because we were creating opportunities, playing in the positions of the pitch that we wanted to, we were just not getting points and I think that that’s the biggest annoyance.

“It was the kind of game that we could have won off our own performance and we just couldn’t get it done. I’m excited to get back, it’s been too long away from camp and I’m looking forward to getting together back with the girls and working on those things to fix.”

 

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As the tournament came to a close for various teams, players’ Instagram feeds began to fill up with photos of hot and sandy places in Europe. However, Higgins took a slightly different route to decompress.

“I went to Rome for a few days which was class. I did a graduate degree in history and sociology at college and am a big history buff, so that was incredible to see.”

After the enforced break post World Cup, over 120 players involved in the tournament went into training with their clubs in England’s PWR, however, contracted Ireland players staying put in Ireland were set five weeks of remote training before convening at the National Sports Campus next week.

With the physical conditioning, fitness levels and exposure to such competitive levels of rugby in the build up to and throughout the World Cup being at an all-time high for players, many decided on a move to England for the PWR, highlighting the need for game time as a reason for doing so when their own domestic leagues aren’t providing it. A sentiment which Higgins can relate to.

“It’s weird because even after the French game, it was the best I felt after a game. So that was even more frustrating that I felt like I could have just played again.

“It obviously came down to the weather as well. I think the forwards wouldn’t have been feeling the same but, it was weird to be feeling so good at a World Cup and still watching two weekends of rugby we weren’t involved in.

“But it’s going to be fairly flat out soon, so I’m going to enjoy the time that we have off before we get flat out into it because we will have 10 or 11 weeks and then we’re straight into the Six Nations.”

The 10 or 11 weeks Higgins is referring to is the upcoming Celtic Challenge competition which starts in December, which Higgins believes was a tournament of benefit to the Ireland team ahead of the World Cup.

“As we’re split into two teams the Clovers and the Wolfhounds, I think the biggest thing the Celtic Challenge gives us is getting to play alongside team mates and get a lot of game minutes.

“For instance, with Aoife Dalton last year that was probably the most game time I’ve ever experienced with her leading into the Six Nations as a centre partnership, playing with each other at 100% which was highly valuable. It gave us minutes that we wouldn’t have gotten before.”

Higgins’ increase in exposure of 15s rugby has come since her debut in the 2021 Women’s Six Nations after spending years on the sevens circuit. Six months ago the IRFU announced its decision to end the men’s sevens programme, with the women’s still operating due to being a key development pathway for the 15s game.

With Ireland finishing outside the top eight and unable to qualify for a place in World Rugby’s Division 1 SVNS competition for the upcoming season, the foreseeable future for Higgins will be 15s based.

“It’s going to be weird to see the World Series in Dubai (starting at the end of November). It’s the first time in seven years that I won’t be involved. I don’t know how that’s going to feel to see that. It would be a weird feeling to never play on the series again, I loved it, it was brilliant.

“Sevens challenges you, you can’t be bad at any certain skill, you need to pass like a nine, to defend one on one and it challenges you with different levels of fitness. I’ve gotten to travel the world and play in an Olympics which I would never have been able to do if I’d just played 15s.”

Competing in another Olympics in Los Angeles 2028 is the dream for the 26-year-old, but for the time being, the Celtic Challenge is calling, and despite the World Cup not ending in the way Ireland had hoped, the memories left by the most successful Women’s World Cup in history, will remain.

“That Brighton week when we played New Zealand was incredible. I was with Anna McGann and Fiona Tuite and I remember we were just sitting at a coffee shop and a group of women that had played for Ireland 20 years ago came over and wanted to chat to us and take a picture.

“They had these self-made T-shirts, and you have conversations with them and to see their excitement for us, and just the support overall that week was extremely special.

“Leading into next year in the Six Nations we’re going to play in the Aviva, it’d be cool to see the same kind of vibes and the same support come out to prove that hopefully Brighton wasn’t just a one off and that it’s actually the start of years to come of amazing support for our team.”