Ireland 7s route to Rio

The Lost Sheep

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Really hard to find much info on it, for those of us who were unable to watch

Australian union have some info on the games - reports
http://www.rugby.com.au/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1699/ArticleID/17392/Aussie-women-claim-series.aspx

The Lost Sheep

Draws for the various European championships have been made

Women are in the top tier grand prix competition and in the first leg are in the same group as Italy, Russia and Belgium. The other groups are France, Netherlands, Finland, GB 2 and Spain, Ukraine, Portugal, GB1.
The first leg will be played on June 11th

Men are in the second tier and the groups are mentioned in an earlier post of mine...

While we'll have an under 18 team competing in a 7s competition next September in Bucherest.
We are in a group with Romania, Israel and Moldova. The other groups are France, Russia, Poland, Spain and Portugal, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg. This will be played 17th/18th of September.

The Lost Sheep

Ireland W7s are in action today in São Paulo. Live on @WorldRugby
Canada - 14.06
Australia - 16.28
Fiji - 19.34

The Lost Sheep

Ireland lost to Canada 26-7, to Australia 19-5 and to Fiji 15-7
Play Russia in Bowl semi final 3.50pm irish time

The Lost Sheep

Ireland lost to Russia and then Spain to finish 12th.
http://www.irishrugby.ie/ireland/36975.php#.Vs4q002zIdU

We've finished last in each of the 2 rounds so far and are on 2 points as a result in series rankings. Will be very tough task to avoid relegation unless we finish well up the places in the next round or two.

The Lost Sheep

Draw for next round of womens series has been made. Next round, the third of five in total, is not until April 8th/9th and is in Atlanta with the fourth round in Canada the following weekend and the final round is in Clermont on the last weekend in May

In Atlanta we have been drawn with Canada, France and Russia who are 2nd, 4th and 6th in the rankings after the opening 2 rounds. We're 12th

LuckyGent88

Just tuned into the sevens in Vegas. Semi between South Africa and the Aussies was a belter. Very physical game.
Aussies win it on the buzzer.

shotgunmcos

Been an interesting round so far.

What about Quade Cooper, Habana and SBW adding to their respective 7s squads? Would 1 or 2 elites boost Irelands chance in Monaco in June? Or the Women's chances in Dublin?

The Lost Sheep

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Been an interesting round so far.

What about Quade Cooper, Habana and SBW adding to their respective 7s squads? Would 1 or 2 elites boost Irelands chance in Monaco in June? Or the Women's chances in Dublin?

Don't think we'll have any players added. Though if we were who do you think we would?
Don't think women have that great a chance based on their performances in world series so far. Finished bottom in each of the opening rounds....

Kiwi_knock

Some wind during the US and SA match. Habana threw a pass on the half way line and blew over SA's dead ball line.

shotgunmcos

Yeah that wind was mad.

The women's squad is a bunch of rugby newbies learning fast

Something like €2m invested in the 7s game in the last year with a view to possible Rio and probable Tokyo. Surely the IRFU would want a team in Rio though?

Monaco is in June. Season basically over. Any player not travelling to Soldier Field etc may be an option.

Canada 7s this weekend. RBS6N and HSBC7s. I'll have square eyes by Sunday night!

ArmaniJeanss

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Something like €2m invested in the 7s game in the last year with a view to possible Rio and probable Tokyo. Surely the IRFU would want a team in Rio though?

Monaco is in June. Season basically over. Any player not travelling to Soldier Field etc may be an option.

Would a bunch of late call-ups not get slaughtered by Samoans, Russians and Canadians who play 7s all the time?

Also as a general point, if the attitude of the IRFU is actually as Olympic-centric as you suggest ("possible Rio and probable Tokyo") then its probably doomed to failure. Invest in a squad to be competitive in all 7s competitions or else don't bother at all. The standard is too high to be able to cherry pick imo, and we are starting too far behind.

The Lost Sheep

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Yeah that wind was mad.

The women's squad is a bunch of rugby newbies learning fast

Something like €2m invested in the 7s game in the last year with a view to possible Rio and probable Tokyo. Surely the IRFU would want a team in Rio though?

Monaco is in June. Season basically over. Any player not travelling to Soldier Field etc may be an option.

Canada 7s this weekend. RBS6N and HSBC7s. I'll have square eyes by Sunday night!

Considering the world series is during the 15 a side season you were not going to get the best women players playing 7s over 15s.
Of course the IRFU would like teams competing in Rio but that's very unlikely.
Monaco is in June what relevance is the game in Soldier Field? That game is November. We have 3 tests in South Africa in June and I don't see any players being held back from that to play 7s.

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Would a bunch of late call-ups not get slaughtered by Samoans, Russians and Canadians who play 7s all the time?

Also as a general point, if the attitude of the IRFU is actually as Olympic-centric as you suggest ("possible Rio and probable Tokyo") then its probably doomed to failure. Invest in a squad to be competitive in all 7s competitions or else don't bother at all. The standard is too high to be able to cherry pick imo, and we are starting too far behind.

Probably would get well beaten. We wont qualify for Olympics considering there's only 1 spot available.
I doubt IRFU are as Olympic centric as that. The sport being added to Olympics was simply the kick start the IRFU needed to invest in the sport. We have qualified for Division A(now under different name of European Trophy) of the European 7s series and that is in June and we need to win that to qualify for the European grand prix series that has all the European heavy hitters taking part

The Lost Sheep

Training Squad for a Madrid Training Camp with Spanish international side....
Aaron Cairns (Ballynahinch), Jordan Conroy (Tullamore), Barry Daly (UCD/Leinster Academy), Dan Goggin (Young Munster/Munster Academy), Terry Kennedy (St. Mary's College), Ollie Lyons (Shannon/Munster Academy), Gearoid Lyons (Young Munster/Munster Academy), Mick McGrath (Clontarf/Leinster), Harry McNulty (UCD), Mark Roche (Lansdowne), Steve Toal-Lennon (St. Mary's College), Alex Wootton (Garryowen/Munster Academy)

The Lost Sheep

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Training Squad for a Madrid Training Camp with Spanish international side....
Aaron Cairns (Ballynahinch), Jordan Conroy (Tullamore), Barry Daly (UCD/Leinster Academy), Dan Goggin (Young Munster/Munster Academy), Terry Kennedy (St. Mary's College), Ollie Lyons (Shannon/Munster Academy), Gearoid Lyons (Young Munster/Munster Academy), Mick McGrath (Clontarf/Leinster), Harry McNulty (UCD), Mark Roche (Lansdowne), Steve Toal-Lennon (St. Mary's College), Alex Wootton (Garryowen/Munster Academy)

Ireland played 5 games against Spain in this training camp and had 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

The Lost Sheep

Canada, France, Russia are Irelands group in next round of Womens world series in Atlanta April 8/9

Legalfarmer89

I see That the Mens 7s Squad are in the 2016 Men's Rugby Sevens Final Olympic Qualification Tournament in Monaco. It will be a tough ask given that regular 7s competitors Samoa, Canada and Russia are in it. There are 16 teams in all with teams from Sri Lanka to Mexico. We will most likely get to the knock out stages as I think that even without 7s being a priority that we will be able to beat most teams at it but we dont really have much chance of winning it, if we come up against the 7s specialist like Russia or Canada it will be tough. From what ive seen on the 7s circuit tho Samoa would be favorites for the last qualifying spot by a long way!

I suppose its tournaments like these that get you experience but unless we take part in the world 7s series we haven't a hope in hell of qualifying for the mens 7s competition at the next Olympics in Toyko! I understand if the I.R.F.U has other priorities tho.

The Lost Sheep

Legalfarmer89 wrote: »

I see That the Mens 7s Squad are in the 2016 Men's Rugby Sevens Final Olympic Qualification Tournament in Monaco. It will be a tough ask given that regular 7s competitors Samoa, Canada and Russia are in it. There are 16 teams in all with teams from Sri Lanka to Mexico. We will most likely get to the knock out stages as I think that even without 7s being a priority that we will be able to beat most teams at it but we dont really have much chance of winning it, if we come up against the 7s specialist like Russia or Canada it will be tough. From what ive seen on the 7s circuit tho Samoa would be favorites for the last qualifying spot by a long way!

I suppose its tournaments like these that get you experience but unless we take part in the world 7s series we haven't a hope in hell of qualifying for the mens 7s competition at the next Olympics in Toyko! I understand if the I.R.F.U has other priorities tho.

It will be a very tough task. All depends on the draw and we probably will make the knockouts but we don't have a chance of winning and we need to make world series. To make world series we need more 7s tournaments at domestic level and get regular tournaments for 7s for all age grades. To make world series there needs to be a qualifier that we actually take part in.

The qualifier for the world series is being held, like most years, during the Hong Kong 7s(which is the weekend after next), and we're not taking part in those qualifiers for mens.
These teams are:
Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, Germany, Cayman Islands
Spain, Chile, Papua New Guinea, Mexico
Japan, Tonga, Brazil, Morocco

Kiwi_knock

If I understand the qualification criteria correctly, the first possible year Ireland could take part in the World Sevens Series is 2019. If Ireland do eventually make the Series, it raises interesting questions of whether they will have sevens contracted players complemented by academy and fringe provincial players or just use it as a development side.

Very unlikely to qualify from the tournament but should be looking to be the next best side after Canada, Samoa, and Russia.

The Lost Sheep

3rd round of world series for women this weekend
First irish game is on in half an hour or so against France.
Link to that game is available through world rugby website
http://www.worldrugby.org/womens-sevens-series/stage/1631/match#blog

2nd and 3rd game today are at 8.14pm and 11.20pm

The Lost Sheep

Ireland lost 22-0

The Lost Sheep

The Women lost game two 29-5 to Canada.
Russia in last game

update. they lost to Russia 10-7 and play Spain in Bowl semi final at 2.20pm irish time and will then play either Japan or Columbia in their final game.

The Lost Sheep

Women beat Spain 17-5 in the semi and then Japan in the final 26-15

Good confidence booster especially beating a side already qualified for the Olympics and another side who they'll face in June in Dublin

The Lost Sheep

Ireland have been drawn into Pool C with England, Canada and Japan at next weekend's HSBC Canada Sevens

Ireland second bottom in series and bottom of the core teams and in 1 of the 2 relegation spots.
After next weekend there is a long break until the final round of the series which is in France at the end of May.

The Lost Sheep

Womens team have been playing in London Invitational 7s today ahead of next weeks final world series event in Clermont.
Lost to Canada 17-7, lost to France 24-7 and drew with Spain 10-10

Tighty

[font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif][font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Men's Global Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Men's 7s Monaco - June 18/19[/font][/font]

[font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Pool A: Samoa, Zimbabwe, Tonga, [/font][font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Ireland[/font]
[font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Pool B: Canada, Germany, Uruguay, Sri Lanka[/font]
[font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Pool C: Russia, Chile, Morocco, Tunisia[/font]
[font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Pool Hong Kong, Spain, Mexico, South Korea[/font]

Given the presence of Samoa and other World Series Teams, the Ireland mens' 7's team was never going to qualify for the Rio Olympics, However if they got a decent draw in the group stages there was a chance of getting to the knock-out stages. Sadly, the above draw seems to strike the death knell to that hope and it will be a big ask to win any of the games in their group.
However it is arguably more important for the team to win the European Division A tournaments in order to qualify to the Grand Prix Series.

The Lost Sheep

Amsterdam 7s this weekend and we have mens and womens sides competing
http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/37517.php#.V0cHARH2YdV
Women have been drawn in Pool A of the Amsterdam 7s Invitational Tournament with the Swiss Women's Sevens, Amsterdam Ladies and Team Tangoed.

Chloe Blackmore (St.Mary's/Munster), Niamh Briggs (UL Bohs/Munster), Liz Burke (UL Bohs/Munster), Eimear Considine (Talent ID), Nicole Cronin (Shannon RFC/Munster), Jeamie Deacon (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Shannon Houston (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Claire Keohane (UL Bohs/Munster), Emma Murphy (Railway Union/Leinster), Roisin Murphy (Gorey RFC), Elaine Ryan (Railway Union/Leinster)

Fixtures
Saturday 28th May 2016
Ireland Women's Sevens Development v AAC Amsterdam Ladies - 10.20
Ireland Women's Sevens Development v Team Tangoed - 12.20
Ireland Women's Sevens Development v Swiss Women's 7s - 14.20

Sunday 29th May 2016
Play-offs

eagle eye

Tighty wrote: »

[font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif][font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Men's Global Olympic Qualifying Tournament - Men's 7s Monaco - June 18/19[/font][/font]

[font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Pool A: Samoa, Zimbabwe, Tonga, [/font][font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Ireland[/font]
[font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Pool B: Canada, Germany, Uruguay, Sri Lanka[/font]
[font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Pool C: Russia, Chile, Morocco, Tunisia[/font]
[font=lucida_grande, Calibri, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif]Pool Hong Kong, Spain, Mexico, South Korea[/font]

Given the presence of Samoa and other World Series Teams, the Ireland mens' 7's team was never going to qualify for the Rio Olympics, However if they got a decent draw in the group stages there was a chance of getting to the knock-out stages. Sadly, the above draw seems to strike the death knell to that hope and it will be a big ask to win any of the games in their group.
However it is arguably more important for the team to win the European Division A tournaments in order to qualify to the Grand Prix Series.

While the strong favourites(Samoa) to qualify are in our group it doesn't mean we can't make it. If we have a good enough squad anything is possible. Injuries play a big part in these tournaments and if we can stay healthy it's possible that we could do it.
It's never going to be easy and clearly the likes of Samoa, Canada and Russia have a huge advantage having played at the top level regularly. We are a good rugby nation though and we have a real chance to qualify if we are prepared for it and I've no doubt we will be prepared.

I presume two teams qualify for the knockout stages? We are good enough to do that and then if you have a fit squad and the other teams suffer with injuries it's quite possible we could make it.

The Lost Sheep

eagle eye wrote: »

While the strong favourites(Samoa) to qualify are in our group it doesn't mean we can't make it. If we have a good enough squad anything is possible. Injuries play a big part in these tournaments and if we can stay healthy it's possible that we could do it.
It's never going to be easy and clearly the likes of Samoa, Canada and Russia have a huge advantage having played at the top level regularly. We are a good rugby nation though and we have a real chance to qualify if we are prepared for it and I've no doubt we will be prepared.

I presume two teams qualify for the knockout stages? We are good enough to do that and then if you have a fit squad and the other teams suffer with injuries it's quite possible we could make it.

I think it significantly affects us as we will have to play and most likely beat them twice to have a shot at winning the title and qualifying for the olympics
We have a strong pedigree in 15s rugby but little to none in 7s and of course we'll be prepared but that doesn't mean we're good enough and what of our likely squad makes you think we'll be good enough?

The draw for the mens repechage quarters is 1st Group A v 2nd Group D
1B vs 2C
1C vs 2B
1D vs 2A

The Lost Sheep

Ireland Mens 7s Squad - Amsterdam 7s Invitational
Adam Byrne - UCD / Leinster
Jordan Conroy - Tullamore
Tom Daly - Lansdowne FC/Leinster
Billy Dardis - UCD/Leinster
Dan Goggin -Young Munster/Munster
Shane Layden - Buccaneers
Harry McNulty - UCD
Mark Roche - Lansdowne FC
Josh Rowland - unaffiliated/Connacht
Nick Timoney - Queens University/Ulster
Steve Toal-Lennon - St.Mary's
Alex Wootton - Garryowen/Munster

Ireland Men's Sevens Squad Fixtures - Amsterdam 7s Invitational (all times local)
Saturday 28th May 2016
Ireland Men's Sevens v Oxfam Crusaders - 11.20
Ireland Men's Sevens v LRC DIOK - 13.40
Ireland Men's Sevens v Monaco - 15.40

Sunday 29th May 2016
Play-offs

Ireland Mens 7s Development Squad - Newcastle 7s Festival
Alan Bennie - UL Bohemians
David Busby - Queens University/Ulster
Niall Delahunt - Lansdowne FC
Bradley Grier - Exiles
Colm Hogan - Dublin University
Alex Kane - Exiles
Ollie Lyons - Shannon / Munster
Rob Lyttle - Queens University/Ulster
John O'Donnell - Sale Sharks
Isaac O'Grady - unaffiliated
Matthew Opperman - Lansdowne FC
Ciaran Wardle - Exiles

Ireland Men's Sevens Squad Fixtures - Newcastle 7s Festival

Saturday 28th May 2016
Ireland Men's Sevens Development v The Cardinals - 10.30
Ireland Men's Sevens Development v Tyendale - 11.30
Ireland Men's Sevens Development v The Mighty Perth - 12.50
Ireland Men's Sevens Development v The Wailers - 13.50
Play-offs