Eloise Hayward (born 7 September 1999) is an English rugby union and rugby league player. She has played representative rugby for England 7s and 15s. She plays for Leeds Rhinos and Saracens at club level.
Early life and education
Born in Portsmouth, she grew up in Muscat, Dubai and Jakarta where she started playing rugby aged six. She played rugby union for Muscat Pirates, Dubai Hurricanes, Sharjah Wanderers and Jakarta Komodo Dragons. Before returning to England to play for West Park Leeds.
Hayward is the granddaughter of a former Manchester City footballer and daughter of former Royal Navy rugby league coach.
She was a keen footballer with involvements in the Arsenal academy, but went down the rugby route when she enrolled at Hartpury College after finishing school.
She studied BSc Maths and Economics at the University of Surrey as well as a BSc in Biomedical Science at Loughborough University.
Rugby career
Hayward began playing rugby union for Muscat Pirates, Dubai Hurricanes, Sharjah Wanderers and Jakarta Komodo Dragons before moving to West Park, Leeds. She joined Premier 15s team Gloucester-Hartpury for the 2017/18 season. A versatile player, she plays all three codes of rugby, Union, League and 7s, with only a handful of male players ever doing the same such as Jason Robinson.
She signed for Saracens in August 2018. She plays as a Scrum-half in rugby union.
She signed for Leeds Rhinos in June 2021. She plays as a Centre and Hooker in rugby league.
At Under 18 level, Hayward played for Yorkshire and represented the England Under 18 side at sevens and 15s. She was a two-time U18 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens medalist with England.
She was part of the England sevens team that went to the Rugby Europe tournament in Kharkiv, Ukraine.