Jamie Heaslip

James Peter Richard "Jamie" Heaslip (born 15 December 1983) is an Irish rugby union player playing for Leinster and Ireland. He plays as a number 8

Early life

Heaslip was born in Tiberias, Israel, while his father, retired Brigadier General Richard Heaslip, was there on duty with UNIFIL. His father was one of the founding officers of the elite Army Ranger Wing (ARW) Ireland's special forces. The youngest of four children, he has two brothers and a sister. He attended Newbridge College, in County Kildare. 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 Leinster senior debut in the Celtic League in March 2005 where he has since gained 70 official senior games, scoring over 90 points, including 2 tries in the Heineken Cup. The first Irish cap he received was in an autumn series test of 2006 against the Pacific Islands. 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 and Grand Slam Heaslip was a member of the British and Irish Lions squad for the 2009 tour to South Africa. He Started all three tests on the Tour. He also was nominated for the IRB International Player of the Year for 2009. 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 was the only try scorer in the Heineken Cup semi-final in which Leinster were defeated 26–16 by the eventual champions Toulouse.