GIVEN THAT SHE was at the 2003 World Cup final in Sydney when she was only around a month old, it seems as if rugby was always going to be a central part of Erin King’s life.
The 18-year-old is set to play in a World Cup herself in two weekends’ time. She’s in South Africa right now as part of the Ireland 7s squad that will look to make history in the tournament.
Before that, King has to get her Leaving Cert results tomorrow. There are naturally a few nerves but she points out that she has had plenty to keep her mind occupied.
While all of her school friends have been away on Leaving Cert holidays this summer, things have been pretty different for King.
“The week after I finished my exams, we were in Poland playing the Euros,” she says with a laugh.
“The Debs is next weekend but I’m obviously over here in South Africa. I’d definitely rather be here, to be honest.”
The globe-trotting life of 7s rugby suits King given her fairly nomadic upbringing. She was born in Sydney when her parents, Joanne and James, were based there before their work took the family to Dubai in the UAE and then on to Doha in Qatar.
It was in Dubai that Erin and her four brothers - Daniel, Matty, Conor, and Liam – started playing rugby. The siblings are all staggered a year apart and Erin is the second oldest.
“I used to play with the boys, we were all on the same team. In Qatar, we were all just thrown in together. My youngest brother is still really into it and he wants to play 7s now.”
Erin says the Middle East was a nice place to grow up but Ireland was calling and the King family moved back around five years ago.
“My cousins and grandparents were all in Ireland but it was definitely a big cultural change, how people act, it was all different. It took about a year to settle in and rugby really helped.”
The King kids all joined Naas RFC, where Erin quickly began to make a name for herself. She was in the back row of the Leinster U18s team at the age of just 15 and went on to be part of the Ireland U18s squad just before Covid first hit in 2020.
The Wicklow woman moved to Old Belvedere RFC that year as rugby returned and then an invitation from the Ireland 7s set-up came out of the blue in January 2021.
School was still being done remotely so King was able to go into Ireland camp for two weeks and slowly got to grips with what was a completely new code for her.
“I wasn’t sure about 7s at first. It’s just so high pressure, any mistake and you’re punished straight away. Getting used to the different systems took a while.
“For me, going at the rucks in 15s, I would go for them all but in 7s you have to leave it sometimes. I’m still learning every day but I’m getting there.”
It was fitting that King’s first Ireland 7s cap came in Dubai last December as she featured on the World Series for the first time.
She remembers going along to the Dubai 7s as a kid – thousands of people, the throbbing atmosphere, the awe of it all. Now she was in the middle of it as a player, with her family flying in to cheer her on.
“It was crazy,” says King. “I was bumping into people who had coached me when I was eight years of age. I would have gone to the Dubai 7s when I was younger, seeing that big stage, and I would never have imagined I would be playing on it. It was unreal.”
Having signed a 7s contract with the IRFU, King hasn’t looked back. She juggled her commitments on the Series with her final year in school and has become part of a squad that see themselves as a family.
King raves about the influence of senior players such as captain and fellow Wicklow woman Lucy Mulhall, playmaker Stacey Flood, and try-scoring sensation Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.
Under head coach Aiden McNulty, this Ireland squad have put a huge focus on their culture and togetherness.
“We’re more than just players,” says King. “We actually care about each other and have each others’ backs. That helps on the pitch because you know that your team-mate cares, has your inside, will make that tackle. It’s the person first, then the player second.”
She explains that they operate with a guiding acronym: HEART. It stands for Hard work, Excellence, Accountability, Respect, and Team.
The squad have appointed senior players as ‘Hearties’ with each having responsibility for ensuring each of the values is upheld all the time.
King has been made to feel part of it all from the start, while she admits to being the ringleader of many of the pranks in a squad that values having fun as well as taking their rugby seriously.
She praises the “brilliant” head coach McNulty for his energy, enthusiasm, ideas, and belief in the group.
“He sees a group of great players and knows how good we can be. He knows we can be better than we even think ourselves.”
Having already made history this year on the Series with a first-ever silver medal in Seville in January and then a bronze in Canada in April, Ireland have underlined why McNulty believes in them so much.
They have marked themselves out as potential dark horses at the World Cup in Cape Town from 9 to 11 September. The Irish squad have been out in South Africa all of this week for a training camp with France and the USA, getting used to the weather and settling in ahead of the big show.
The knock-out format of the competition means Ireland have to beat Brazil on the opening day, potentially setting up a Cup quarter-final clash with New Zealand. So it won’t be straightforward. But this squad have big ambitions.
“We’re pretty set on hopefully making history in this World Cup and having some magic moments,” says King.
“We keep passing our goals and hopefully we can back up those performances on the World Series in this World Cup.”
- This article was updated at 10.30am to correct a name.
