Ireland Sevens Teams Target Olympic Place
The Ireland Women’s and Men’s Sevens set-ups are aim to keep their 2016 Olympic dreams alive as the squads for this weekend’s Rugby Europe Olympic Repechage tournament in Lisbon are named. Both teams must finish in the top three in Portugal to qualify for next year’s World Olympic Repechage, which will determine the final teams to travel to Rio 2016.
The Ireland Women’s team, captained by Lucy Mulhall, will compete in Pool B on Saturday alongside Belgium, Romania and Ukraine, with the knockout stages taking place on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the men, captained by Tom Daly, will compete in Pool A on Saturday alongside Georgia, Italy and Russia, with the knockout stages taking place on Sunday.
Speaking ahead of the tournaments, Anthony Eddy, IRFU Director of Rugby Sevens, said: “Both squads have developed well and this weekend will be a real test as they face up to some of the best teams in Europe.
“This tournament is arguably
the most important one of the season so far for both teams, and with a place at the World Olympic Repechage the prize for a top three finish I am sure they will give everything they have.”
Women’s captain Mulhall commented: “We have been training well and made steady progress this season, so we hope to put all that work into practice this weekend as we target a spot at next year’s World Olympic Repechage, where we hope to compete for a place at Rio 2016.”
Men’s skipper Daly added: “This is a great opportunity for us to measure ourselves against some of the best Sevens teams in Europe. “We are an ambitious team and our preparation, training and tournament experience to date have been great, but we recognise that this will be a significant step-up in terms of standards.
“With a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, we hope to secure one of the three spots available for the World Olympic Repechage next year.”
The tournament matches will be streamed live on http://www.rugbyeurope.eu/.
Check out www.irishrugby.ie/sevens for all the latest Men’s and Women’s Sevens news.
IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Squad (Rugby Europe Olympic Repechage, Lisbon, Saturday, July 18-Sunday, July 19):
Audrey O’Flynn (TID)
Jenny Murphy (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)
Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Eimear Considine (TID)
Ashleigh Baxter (Cooke/Ulster)
Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock/Leinster)
Claire Keohane (UL Bohemians/Munster)
Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum) (capt)
Claire Molloy (Bristol/Connacht)
Louise Galvin (UL Bohemians/Munster)
Alison Miller (Portlaoise/Connacht)
Emma Murphy (Railway Union/Leinster)
Pools –
Pool A: Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Spain
Pool B: Belgium, Ireland, Romania, Ukraine
Pool C: Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden
Match Schedule:
Saturday: Pool B –
Ireland v Romania, 11.22am
Ireland v Belgium, 2.22pm
Ireland v Ukraine, 6.06pm
IRELAND MEN’S SEVENS Squad (Rugby Europe Olympic Repechage, Lisbon, Saturday, July 18-Sunday, July 19):
Adam Byrne (UCD/Leinster)
Aaron Cairns (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Tom Daly (Lansdowne/Leinster) (capt)
Ian Fitzpatrick (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Terry Kennedy (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Shane Layden (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Gearoid Lyons (Young Munster/Munster)
Diarmaid McCarthy (Young Munster/Munster)
David McGuigan (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Harry McNulty (UCD/Leinster)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Alex Wootton (Garryowen/Munster)
Steve Toal-Lennon (St Mary’s College/Leinster)
Pools –
Pool A: Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Russia
Pool B: Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania
Pool C: Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Ukraine
Match Schedule:
Saturday: Pool A –
Russia v Ireland, 11am
Georgia v Ireland, 3.06pm
Italy v Ireland, 5pm