Ireland Impress At Day 2 Of Academy 7s
IRFU Academy 7s Tournament, IRFU High Performance Centre, Sport Ireland Campus, Blanchardstown, Co. Dublin 31/10/2020 Ulster's Aaron Sexton scores a try Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Ireland took the spoils on day 2 of the IRFU Academy 7s with four wins out of four, but there was plenty of opportunity for the young academy players from the four provinces to impress.
Ulster again looked sharp with Aaron Sexton providing some serious line breaking speed in a well balanced side.
Kieran Campbell’s men kicked off with a 10-15 win against Leinster before racking up a 26-10 win against Munster. They also ran Ireland closest on the day with a 27-19 loss and narrowly edged Connacht 19-17 in the final round of matches.
Eric Elwood’s Connacht side impressed on the day, recovering from an early 24-5 loss to Ireland to record wins against Leinster and Munster and finish third on the day – losing out to a late try and conversion in their tussle with Ulster.
Speaking about the day Campbell highlighted the importance of playing time for the young professionals,
“Like all the provinces we’re training really hard, but it was starting to feel that the lads were professional trainers so it’s been great to get an opportunity to play some really competitive rugby.
Some of the players here today have just come through the Ireland U20s while others will be hoping to make it into the next squad, so it’s a chance for them to test themselves as well.”
IRFU Academy 7s – Round 2 Results, Saturday 17th October
| Time | Team A | Team B | ||
| 10:00 | Leinster | 10 – 15 | Ulster | |
| 10:22 | Ireland | 24 – 5 | Connacht | |
| 11:16 | Ireland | 43 – 10 | Leinster | |
| 11:38 | Munster | 10 – 26 | Ulster | |
| 12:32 | Munster | 5 – 31 | Ireland | |
| 12:54 | Connacht | 17 – 12 | Leinster | |
| 13:48 | Connacht | 19 – 12 | Munster | |
| 14:10 | Ulster | 19 – 27 | Ireland | |
| 15:04 | Ulster | 19 – 17 | Connacht | |
| 15:26 | Leinster | 14 – 19 | Munster |
IRFU Academy 7s – Round 2 Table
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | PTS |
| IRELAND | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 125 | 39 | 86 | 16 |
| ULSTER | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 79 | 64 | 15 | 12 |
| CONNACHT | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 58 | 67 | -9 | 8 |
| MUNSTER | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 46 | 90 | -44 | 4 |
| LEINSTER | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 46 | 94 | -48 | 0 |
IRFU Academy 7s Squads – Round 2
Ireland: Aaron O’Sullivan, Ian Fitzpatrick, Gavin Mullin, Peter Maher, Jack Kelly, Mark Roche, Billy Dardis, Hugo Lennox, Terry Kennedy, Duran Krummeck, Foster Horan, Jordan Conroy, Eanna Madden.
Connacht: Cathal Forde, Shane Jennings, Oran Mc Nulty, Sean O’Brien, Stephen Kerins, Conor Dean, Donnacha Byrne, Declan Adamson, Darragh Murray, Joshua Dunne, Oisin McCormack, Hubert Costello.
Leinster: John McKee, Joe McCarthy, Marcus Hanan, Jack Boyle, Lee Barron, Alex Soroka, Patrick Patterson, Niall Comerford, Charlie Tector, Marcus Kiely, Jamie Osborne, Chris Cosgrave, Karl Martin.
Munster: Paddy Kelly, Jack Daly, Alex Kendellen, Sean French, Daniel Okeke, Conor Moloney, Nick Greene, Aaron Leahy, Alan Flannery, Cian Hurley, Mark Donnelly.
Ulster: Cormac Izuchukwu, Azur Allison, Ben Carson, Marcus Rea, Greg Jones, David McCann, Hayden Hyde, Conor Rankin, Bruce Houston, Lewis Finlay, Aaron Sexton, Bill Johnston.