Irish Rugby and Sevens

CIARAN_BOYLE

After coming unbeaten through the first two days we lost to Asutralia and USA in the quarter final and 5th place semi to finish in a tie for 7th.

SaoPaulo41

Is Terry Kennedy not playing 7s anymore?

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119842574#Comment_119842574

Nothing to say he isnt. Could be injured or just not selected for this round

CIARAN_BOYLE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119842574#Comment_119842574

He retired/took a year out as his part time job made an offer of a full time position.

He mentioned that he would like to come back for the Olympics but who knows if his employer may want him to keep working full time or if he will get used to earning more money.

That said he works for the sponsor of the sevens team so he may be encouraged to come back.

SaoPaulo41

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119842593#Comment_119842593

Ah ok thanks, big loss so ,he singlehandedly won some games in last few tournaments with individual tries

CIARAN_BOYLE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119842628#Comment_119842628

You are right its a big loss.

I only found out from the commentators during the sevens rwc back in september.

There's not a huge amount of money in sevens. According to one article I found the contracted players are on roughly 20K per annum + appearance money for each event they are picked for.

Conroy seem to get decent media and sponsorship but the others don't.

Nucifora mentioned recently that there is a sevens six nations being planned for. If that happens hopefully the sevens 6 nations can piggy back on the actual six nations and draw some decent sponsorship money. At the very least there will be extra appearance money for the players.

Edited to add: I believe that the contract group is 20 players. At the end of 2020/2021 5 players in their 20s retired so move on from sevens.

pickarooney

A six nations after the GB teams just United into one?

CIARAN_BOYLE

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishrugby.ie/2022/10/27/nucifora-cape-town-was-an-unbelievable-effort-from-those-boys/amp/

Kennedy in Australia on sabbatical foe the year.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119843198#Comment_119843198

You are right that it sounds a bit odd. I'm not sure if the GB sevens is a permanent thing or just temporary for the Olympic qualification.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119846432#Comment_119846432

The GB sevens is permanant afaik with the individual nations continuing to have their separate teams in the rugby europe series, Commonwealth games and 7s world cup every couple of years

peteeeed

https://twitter.com/IrishRugby/status/1594439175024959488?s=20&t=dkolJmhKPbBtK6bNPJ4dhA

https://twitter.com/IrishRugby/status/1594439175024959488?s=20&t=dkolJmhKPbBtK6bNPJ4dhA

Lost Ormond

2nd and 3rd rounds for men and 1st and 2nd rounds for women over next 2 weekends.

Next weekend in Dubai before the following weekend in Cape town

Lost Ormond

IRELAND MEN’S SEVENS Squad (Dubai Sevens, Sevens Stadium, December 2-3, 2022):

Niall Comerford (UCD RFC/Leinster)

Jordan Conroy (Buccaneers RFC)

Sean Cribbin (Suttonians RFC)

Ed Kelly (Dublin University FC)

Jack Kelly (Dublin University FC)

Hugo Lennox (Skerries RFC)

Harry McNulty (UCD RFC)

Bryan Mollen (UCD RFC)

Chay Mullins (Connacht/IQ Rugby)

Aaron O’Sullivan (UCD RFC)

Mark Roche (Lansdowne FC)

Andrew Smith (Clontarf FC/Leinster)

Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC)

IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Squad (Dubai Sevens, Sevens Stadium, December 2-3, 2022):

Kathy Baker (Blackrock College RFC)

Megan Burns (Blackrock College RFC)

Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union RFC)

Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC)

Katie Heffernan (Railway Union RFC)

Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC)

Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC)

Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC)

Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC)

Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC)

Kate Farrell McCabe (Suttonians RFC)

Lucy Mulhall (Wicklow RFC) (capt)

Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC)

IRELAND SEVENS Schedule – Dubai Sevens:

Friday, December 2 –

• Ireland Women v Spain, Sevens Stadium, 9am local time/5am Irish time
• Ireland Men v Spain, Sevens Stadium, 10.06am local time/6.06am Irish time
• Ireland Women v Japan, Sevens Stadium, 12.21pm local time/8.21am Irish time
• Ireland Men v Uganda, Sevens Stadium, 2.36pm local time/10.36am Irish time
• Ireland Women v Fiji, Sevens Stadium, 4.13pm local time/12.13pm Irish time
• Ireland Men v France, Sevens Stadium, 7.35pm local time/3.35pm Irish time.

Saturday, December 3 –

• Play-Off Matches.

Thud

Are the pool draws seeded? looks like we've gotten an easier draw here and last tournament in Hong Kong. Avoided NZ, Fiji and Oz in both.

Ireland are playing developmental teams in the Dubai Invitational Tournament this weekend (men & women), with some interesting selections:

Ireland Men’s Development Squad: Sion Cowdy, Billy Dardis, Sean Galvin, Hubert Gilvarry, Will Goddard, Dylan O’Grady, Mark Lee, Fergus Jemphrey, Aitzol King, Liam McNamara, Connor O’Sullivan, Tom Roche

Very interested to see Aitzol King called into this.

The 7s programme has stood us in great stead in recent years in terms of developing the skillsets of guys like Hugo Keenan, Jimmy O'Brien, Will Connors and Robert Baloucoune, and while King looks like a great raw athlete, it would be interesting to see if his handling and elusiveness might improve with some time playing 7s.

realhorrorshow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119944119#Comment_119944119

Does the three year stand down period apply to sevens? That's hardly the same Liam McNamara that played for Australia a few years back?

Also see Will Goddard, Aussie 10/15 who spent a few months with Connacht a few years back, is involved.

arsebiscuits1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119944119#Comment_119944119

When I saw McNulty at the captains media stuff I just assumed Dardis was injured.

I wonder why he's not with the main squad.

I get having a player of his calibre would be beneficial for a development squad. But Dubai is a big event and the start of the world series.

Surely you'd want your longstanding captain and playmaker there? Unless he's been dropped

CIARAN_BOYLE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119944227#Comment_119944227

Dardis was at Hong Kong which was the start of the world series a few weeks ago.

I guess they wanted to have a look at someone else in his role.

I don't know if Dardis has another career? A lot of the sevens guys are trying to balance rugby with another career. Maybe he is struggling with that and is left out of the main squad as a result.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119944283#Comment_119944283

I'm pretty sure he (like Terry Kennedy) works for the 7s team's main sponsor Triton Lake.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Is Mark Lee the first underage sevens international to play senior sevens (even if only for the development team).

I sort of think he might be. We haven't always put focus on sevens at underage level.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119946572#Comment_119946572

Not at all. Greg o Shea, Billy Dardis, Aaron Sexton all played.

We dont have any real focus on sevens at age grade level in terms of yearly tournaments or even occasional tournaments but we've had irish teams compete in the FIRA/Rugby europe u18/19 7s tournaments for years.

sydthebeat

shaky start but good win against uganda 33 - 15 after a 12 all draw with spain earlier

CIARAN_BOYLE

The Irish women top their pool beating Spain Japan and Fiji. Probably playing USA in the Quarter Final.

The men are 2nd in their pool with a game vs France to come.

SaoPaulo41

Men beaten by France 14-7

S.M.B.

Scraped through in second place and up against Argentina in the quarters.

CIARAN_BOYLE

The Irish women finish 6th after losing to USA in the Quarter final and beating Great Britain in the 5th place semi and losing to Fiji in the 5th place final.

The men are in the final after beating Argentina and USA. They face the Blitzboks.

Pudsy33

What time is the final?

CIARAN_BOYLE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119952342#Comment_119952342

3:26 I believe.

https://www.world.rugby/sevens-series/stage/2107/match#matches

CIARAN_BOYLE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119944076#Comment_119944076

Its a bit late but I just checked. Pools are seeded based on results of the last event.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119944227#Comment_119944227

For Hong Kong we brought 13 players. 3 playmakers, Roche started most games, Dardis was the reserve for most games and Lennox was the reserve for some games.

In this game series Roche is starting the games with Lennox as a reserve.

I guess Roche is the starting playmaker so Dardis isn't considered a starter despite his leadership. Maybe they decided to give Lennox a bit more experience.

Final on now South Africa lead 7-0.

CIARAN_BOYLE

I guess its South Africa's final to win. They seem to have control at half time.

South Africa 21-Ireland 0

CIARAN_BOYLE

Final Score 21-5. The Irish men with have to wait some more before they win their first world series title.

In the standings we are now 4th after 2 events. It will be hard to finish top 4 at the end of the season which is needed for automatic qualification for the next Olympics but that has to be the goal.