WHEN NEVE JONES sat to pose for a recent pre-World Cup photoshoot, the Ireland hooker held up a collage of four small pictures as the cameras clicked.
The idea was to give a sense of the different influences and loves in her life. There was a picture of herself at the age of the nine during her days playing minis rugby, a shot of her partner, Bethan, one of her mother and another of the two young boys she nanny’s for during the day job.
“The pictures just encompass everything I’m about, I have a very busy lifestyle,” Jones tells The 42. “I think it’s just a bit of me all in four little pictures.”
Ireland hooker Neve Jones. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
While many of the Ireland squad who are preparing for their World Cup opener against Japan tomorrow [KO 12pm, RTÉ2/BBC2] came to the sport later in life, Jones has been immersed in the game from a young age. She remembers throwing a rugby ball around in the living room from the age of two or three. She remembers playing minis with the boys as a kid. She remembers no longer being allowed play with the boys once she hit 12 years of age. She remembers the “lull period” over the next couple of years where she drifted away from the game as a result. She remembers the effort her parents made to get her back involved again.
“My mum happened to find a rugby camp and she was like ‘Well, it doesn’t say girls can’t go, so we’re going’. So I jumped in the car, headed down to Belfast and again I was the only girl there, but my brother very kindly came with me, he’s not a big rugby guy at all but he came and kept me company for the whole week, and then the coaches there put my mum in touch with the rugby club in Belfast and that’s how I found Malone.
“I’m really grateful for my parents. My mum and dad would be driving to Belfast every week in the summer, then it would be a summer camp in Monaghan, so hop in the car. There’s a summer camp up in Coleraine, Cookstown, they’re all over the shop, you name it, my parents would drive me there and my mum would sit in the car and play the harmonica or the ukulele for three hours on end while I was training away.
I really wouldn’t be where I am without them because they kept the dream alive, they lit the fire to begin with and then kept it going.”
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The rugby road trips even extended beyond Ulster on occasion. Around the age of nine, Jones’ parents pulled her and her siblings out of school for the day for a surprise trip to watch the Ireland women play in Dublin.
“I didn’t know there was any other women’s rugby team,” Jones recalls. “I think I’d come across like one or two girls in my long playing career at nine!
“I couldn’t even tell you the stadium it was in, but it was Ireland versus England, and there was maybe 12 people in the crowd, and I can imagine most of them were parents or siblings of the players, but I just remember being in absolute awe of this and thinking this is what I want to do and this is who I want to be, just the camaraderie they had on the pitch.
“I think England ran away with it in the end, but I just thought I want to be in that green jersey one day. It’s kind of what inspired me to continue playing.”
Jones during an open training session this summer. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO
Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO
From Malone RFC Jones played her way into the Ulster system and then caught the eye of the national coaches, debuting for Ireland in 2020. Two years later an unexpected turn of events led to a significant life change. English side Gloucester-Hartpury were left short at hooker and Jones was recommended to head coach Sean Lynn. Phone calls were made and later that week, when Jones had fortunately booked time off work, she was landing in the UK for the next chapter of her career. Back in March of this year, the 26-year-old collected her third straight Premiership medal with the club.
“When I went over, the environment, I actually can’t even put it into words. I just thought this is where I want to be, this is where I want to continue to play my rugby and I haven’t really looked back since.”
Jones now balances her rugby life with her job as a nanny for the two young boys included in her photoshoot collage.
“The two boys are so special to me,” Jones says.
“There’s one and a bit (years old) and nearly four, so as you can imagine, full of energy. They want to run around, but that’s the lifestyle I’m here for. We’re always outside, we’re always running off the energy, playing rugby, football, whatever it may be, going swimming, the works. I start at 8:30am and we’re like that until about 4pm.
“I spend quite a lot of time with the Gloucester girls, so we’re hanging out with like Maud Muir, Beth (Lewis), my partner, we’re meeting up with them all the time and the boys’ parents are like “You’ve have no idea how cool this is!
“I leave work about 4/4.30pm and finish training about 9pm and then we go again. It’s the lifestyle I love. I’m all go, energy levels high until about 9pm and then I crash.”
Jones has been capped 37 times for Ireland. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
In Northampton tomorrow Jones wins her 37th Ireland cap and gets a first taste of World Cup rugby. Reaching the quarter-finals from a pool containing Japan, Spain and New Zealand is the initial aim but Jones feels the squad has the potential to do something special over the next month. As one of the more experienced players in the team, Jones was there for the bad times, but the progress under Scott Bemand has both renewed the sense of belief within the group and heightened the expectation outside it.
“I can’t wait to be in crowds. I think for the Brighton game (against New Zealand) there’s like 32,000 tickets sold, which is really cool.
“There are huge opportunities and as players, these are the games we want to be playing in, this is the environment you strive to be in week in, week out and to just be relishing it all and make memories with the girls and remember them for the rest of our lives and you know, there’s no ceiling for us, so let’s take to the field and tear it up and enjoy ourselves.
“We can’t wait to show everyone the hard work we’ve done.”
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'I remember being in absolute awe, thinking this is what I want to do'
WHEN NEVE JONES sat to pose for a recent pre-World Cup photoshoot, the Ireland hooker held up a collage of four small pictures as the cameras clicked.
The idea was to give a sense of the different influences and loves in her life. There was a picture of herself at the age of the nine during her days playing minis rugby, a shot of her partner, Bethan, one of her mother and another of the two young boys she nanny’s for during the day job.
“The pictures just encompass everything I’m about, I have a very busy lifestyle,” Jones tells The 42. “I think it’s just a bit of me all in four little pictures.”
While many of the Ireland squad who are preparing for their World Cup opener against Japan tomorrow [KO 12pm, RTÉ2/BBC2] came to the sport later in life, Jones has been immersed in the game from a young age. She remembers throwing a rugby ball around in the living room from the age of two or three. She remembers playing minis with the boys as a kid. She remembers no longer being allowed play with the boys once she hit 12 years of age. She remembers the “lull period” over the next couple of years where she drifted away from the game as a result. She remembers the effort her parents made to get her back involved again.
“My mum happened to find a rugby camp and she was like ‘Well, it doesn’t say girls can’t go, so we’re going’. So I jumped in the car, headed down to Belfast and again I was the only girl there, but my brother very kindly came with me, he’s not a big rugby guy at all but he came and kept me company for the whole week, and then the coaches there put my mum in touch with the rugby club in Belfast and that’s how I found Malone.
“I’m really grateful for my parents. My mum and dad would be driving to Belfast every week in the summer, then it would be a summer camp in Monaghan, so hop in the car. There’s a summer camp up in Coleraine, Cookstown, they’re all over the shop, you name it, my parents would drive me there and my mum would sit in the car and play the harmonica or the ukulele for three hours on end while I was training away.
The rugby road trips even extended beyond Ulster on occasion. Around the age of nine, Jones’ parents pulled her and her siblings out of school for the day for a surprise trip to watch the Ireland women play in Dublin.
“I didn’t know there was any other women’s rugby team,” Jones recalls. “I think I’d come across like one or two girls in my long playing career at nine!
“I couldn’t even tell you the stadium it was in, but it was Ireland versus England, and there was maybe 12 people in the crowd, and I can imagine most of them were parents or siblings of the players, but I just remember being in absolute awe of this and thinking this is what I want to do and this is who I want to be, just the camaraderie they had on the pitch.
“I think England ran away with it in the end, but I just thought I want to be in that green jersey one day. It’s kind of what inspired me to continue playing.”
From Malone RFC Jones played her way into the Ulster system and then caught the eye of the national coaches, debuting for Ireland in 2020. Two years later an unexpected turn of events led to a significant life change. English side Gloucester-Hartpury were left short at hooker and Jones was recommended to head coach Sean Lynn. Phone calls were made and later that week, when Jones had fortunately booked time off work, she was landing in the UK for the next chapter of her career. Back in March of this year, the 26-year-old collected her third straight Premiership medal with the club.
“When I went over, the environment, I actually can’t even put it into words. I just thought this is where I want to be, this is where I want to continue to play my rugby and I haven’t really looked back since.”
Jones now balances her rugby life with her job as a nanny for the two young boys included in her photoshoot collage.
“The two boys are so special to me,” Jones says.
“There’s one and a bit (years old) and nearly four, so as you can imagine, full of energy. They want to run around, but that’s the lifestyle I’m here for. We’re always outside, we’re always running off the energy, playing rugby, football, whatever it may be, going swimming, the works. I start at 8:30am and we’re like that until about 4pm.
“I spend quite a lot of time with the Gloucester girls, so we’re hanging out with like Maud Muir, Beth (Lewis), my partner, we’re meeting up with them all the time and the boys’ parents are like “You’ve have no idea how cool this is!
“I leave work about 4/4.30pm and finish training about 9pm and then we go again. It’s the lifestyle I love. I’m all go, energy levels high until about 9pm and then I crash.”
In Northampton tomorrow Jones wins her 37th Ireland cap and gets a first taste of World Cup rugby. Reaching the quarter-finals from a pool containing Japan, Spain and New Zealand is the initial aim but Jones feels the squad has the potential to do something special over the next month. As one of the more experienced players in the team, Jones was there for the bad times, but the progress under Scott Bemand has both renewed the sense of belief within the group and heightened the expectation outside it.
“I can’t wait to be in crowds. I think for the Brighton game (against New Zealand) there’s like 32,000 tickets sold, which is really cool.
“There are huge opportunities and as players, these are the games we want to be playing in, this is the environment you strive to be in week in, week out and to just be relishing it all and make memories with the girls and remember them for the rest of our lives and you know, there’s no ceiling for us, so let’s take to the field and tear it up and enjoy ourselves.
“We can’t wait to show everyone the hard work we’ve done.”
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