Women’s Sevens Squad Named For Sao Paulo

The Ireland Women’s Sevens squad to take part in the second round of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in Sao Paulo has been confirmed.

Ireland have been drawn in Pool A with Australia, Canada and Fiji with matches taking place on Saturday 20th February.

The Irish team spent the last two weeks training with the Australian Women’s Sevens side in Sydney and played three games against their Aussie counterparts as part of an exhibition series at the Sydney 7s.

The Australian side, who are currently ranked at number one in the world were victorious in all three games, but Anthony Eddy, Director of Sevens Rugby was pleased with the experience: “The two week camp in Sydney was a valuable experience for the group.

They got to train and play against a team that has been assembled and professional for a few years as well as having a lot of World Series experience.

Our girls learned a great deal and played three tough games in front of over 30,000 spectators”
 
The squad to take part in the Sao Paulo 7s features eleven of the fifteen players that travelled to Sydney. Jeamie Deacon, Kim Flood, Jenny Murphy and Hannah Tyrrell have returned to Ireland and will continue training at their base in Dublin, while Audrey O’Flynn, who missed out on the Australia trip though injury has recovered and has joined the squad in Sao Paulo.

Ireland finished in 12th place at Round 1 of the Series in Dubai back in November and Eddy is hopeful of an improved finish in Sao Paulo: “A lot of the girls would have experienced the intensity of the World Series for the first time in Dubai and since then we have been building steadily towards Sao Paulo.

They now know what is required of them at this level and while we are again drawn in a challenging pool, we will be aiming for a better performance”.

Ireland Women’s  Sevens (HSBC World Sevens Series – Sao Paulo)

Ashleigh Baxter – Belfast Harlequins / Ulster
Eimear Considine – Talent ID Programme
Katie Fitzhenry – Blackrock College RFC / Leinster
Stacey Flood – Railway Union / Leinster
Louise Galvin – UL Bohemians / Munster
Shannon Houston – Blackrock College RFC / Leinster
Claire Keohane – UL Bohs / Munster
Alison Miller – Portlaoise / Connacht
Lucy Mulhall – Rathdrum / Leinster Captain
Amee Leigh Murphy-Crowe – St.Mary’s College RFC / Munster
Audrey O’Flynn – Talent ID Programme
Megan Williams – St.Mary’s College RFC
 
Match Schedule

Sat 20th Feb 2016
Canada 7s v Ireland 7s – 12.06 (Local Time) / 14.06 (Irish Time)
Australia 7s v Ireland 7s – 14.28 (Local Time) / 16.28 (Irish Time)
Fiji 7s v Ireland 7s – 17.34 (Local Time) / 19.34 (Irish Time)
 
Sun 21st Feb 2016
 
Cup / Bowl / Plate Play-Offs

Matches will be streamed via worldrugby.org ?