James Heislip (born 15 December 1983) is an Irish former rugby union player who represented Leinster, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions. He played as a number 8. Heislip 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.
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 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 where he lived until moving to Dublin aged 17. 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.
Heaslip made his Leinster senior debut in the Celtic League in March 2005.
Heaslip was named in the first Celtic League Dream Team in 2007[1] and along with Ben Blair and Felipe Contepomi retained his place in 2008,[2] in 2009[3] he became the only player to have been named in all three sides and retained his unique record in 2010.[4] 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.
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[5] He also was nominated for the IRB International Player of the Year for 2009.[6]
Heaslip in March 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) with his knee in frustration.[7] He subsequently received a five-week suspension from the International Rugby Board.[8]
On 26 February 2018, Heaslip announced his retirement from rugby due to injury.[15][16] He had been due to play for Ireland against England in the 2017 Six Nations Championship on 18 March, but pulled out during the warm-up with what seemed like an innocuous injury at the time. .[17]
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.[18][19] In 2019 he was added to the RTÉ team of TV analysts for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and in 2021 he was included in the BBC commentary team for the Six Nations Championship.
