Ireland Men’s Sevens Set For Return To World Series Action In Canada

Ireland Men’s Sevens will return to HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series action next weekend as the 2021 season gets up and running at BC Place in Vancouver from September 18-19.

Coming off the back of a historic first Olympic Games in Tokyo, Anthony Eddy’s side will make a welcome return to the World Series as 12 Men’s teams assemble in Canada.

Ireland, a core team on the World Series, have been drawn in Pool B alongside Great Britain and invitational sides Hong Kong and Jamaica, both of whom Eddy’s men beat at the World Rugby Sevens Repechage in Monaco last June en route to Olympic qualification.

Pool A sees South Africa, who finished as 2020 Series runners-up, drawn with Series core teams Kenya and Spain and invitational team Mexico.

Pool C includes the USA, Series runners-up in 2019, together with hosts Canada and invitational teams Germany and Chile.

Ireland will open their HSBC Canada Sevens campaign against Hong Kong on Saturday, September 18 (9.44am local time/5.44pm Irish time), before going head-to-head with Jamaica (12.55pm local time/8.55pm Irish time) and Great Britain (4.28 local time/12.28am) later in the day.

The Vancouver tournament will be followed by a second HSBC Canada Sevens event in Edmonton the following weekend, on September 25-26. The two rounds in Canada form the 2021 Series, with the Series title awarded in Edmonton.

Given the unique circumstances of the pandemic, there will be no relegation from the 2021 Series and the results will not contribute towards seedings for any other future events.

The complete HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022 schedule will be announced by World Rugby later this month.