Three Changes To Ireland Men’s Sevens Squad For Edmonton

Drawn in Pool C for 2021’s World Series finale, they will face Germany, Jamaica and familiar rivals Great Britain in Saturday’s pool stages.

A new-look Ireland squad impressed last weekend in Vancouver as the WorldSeries returned after 18 months, and the side – led by Bryan Mollen – will be hoping to build further on those performances at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

Anthony Eddy, the IRFU Director of Sevens Rugby, has made three injury-enforced changes to the squad, with Gavin Mullin, Ed Kelly and Mark Roche unfortunately picking up injuries in Vancouver. All three have been ruled out this week and have returned to Dublin.

Olympians Billy Dardis and Jordan Conroy have linked up with Ireland in Canada and are set for their first action since Tokyo, while Aaron O’Sullivan, who featured heavily on the World Series during the 2020 season, has also joined the squad and adds valuable experience to the ranks.

A fourth place finish in Vancouver was Ireland’s best placing as a World Series core team, and the exposure of nine debutants to international action across the weekend was a real positive at the start of a new Olympic cycle.

Commenting ahead of the Edmonton tournament, Eddy says this weekend will provide the squad with another exciting opportunity to build experience and cohesion heading into the 2022 season.

“It was great to see the team perform so well in Vancouver and they have taken a lot of learnings form that tournament that should put them in a better position this weekend,” he said.

“What is really exciting is to see some of the young men that have no experience of this level of competition perform so well, and they will continue to develop and become very important players for the team during the 2021/22 World Series.”

Ireland will open their campaign against Germany on Saturday (9.44am local time/4.44pm Irish time), before further Pool C clashes with Jamaica (12.55pm local time/7.55pm Irish time) and Great Britain (4.28pm local time/11.28pm Irish time) later in the day.

All games will be available to watch on the World Rugby Sevens Series social media channels.

IRELAND MEN’S SEVENS Squad (Canada Sevens, Edmonton, September 2021):

Niall Comerford (UCD RFC/Leinster)
Jordan Conroy (Buccaneers RFC)
Chris Cosgrave (UCD RFC/Leinster)
Sean Cribbin (Suttonians RFC)
Billy Dardis (Terenure College RFC)
Shane Jennings (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht)
Sean Kearns (Ireland Sevens)
Steven Kilgallen (UCD RFC)
Bryan Mollen (Blackrock College RFC) (capt)
Ben Moxham (Ballymena RFC/Ulster)
Aaron O’Sullivan (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster)
Conor Phillips (Young Munster RFC/Munster)
Liam Turner (Dublin University FC/Leinster)

Ireland Men’s Sevens – Edmonton Fixtures:

Saturday, September 25:

Pool C:

• Ireland v Germany (9.44am local time/4.44pm Irish time)
• Ireland v Jamaica (12.55pm local time/7.55pm Irish time)
• Great Britain v Ireland (4.28pm local time/11.28pm Irish time)

Sunday, September 26:

• Play-Off Matches