Ireland Sevens captains Lucy Mulhall and Billy Dardis are pictured at the launch of the HSBC France Sevens tournament in Toulouse ©INPHO/Martin Lima
As temperatures soar in Toulouse, it promises to be a red-hot weekend of HSBC World Rugby Sevens action as the Ireland Men’s and Women’s squads bid to continue on an upward trajectory and produce strong performances in France.
The Ireland Men narrowly missed out on a World Series medal in Singapore back in April, defeated in the Bronze final by Australia, but will be looking to back that up and go one step further at the Stade Ernest Wallon this weekend, while the Ireland Women are seeking to make history.
Having won back-to-back medals in Seville and Langford, Aiden McNulty’s side currently sit fifth in the overall World Series standings and can achieve a first ever top three season finish as the 2022 Women’s campaign concludes in Toulouse.
It has been a hugely positive season for the Ireland Women and their performances over the last two tournaments, earning silver and bronze medals, has generated huge excitement around the potential of this team under McNulty, with the likes of Lucy Mulhall, Stacey Flood, Eve Higgins and World Series top try scorer Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe to the fore.
The Ireland Women begin the Toulouse tournament against England on Friday at 11.20am local time/10.20am Irish time, before facing Brazil later that evening at 9.35pm local time/8.35pm Irish time.
McNulty’s charges conclude the pool stages against hosts France on Saturday at 11.20am local time/10.20am Irish time.
“Preparations have been really good. We spent last week in Marcoussis training against some of the best teams in the world so we got some really good work in the bank,” explained team captain Mulhall.
“We have to be confident going into this weekend and we’re really focused on the job at hand, knowing every team has so much to play for going into the final tournament of the season.
“It’s a really exciting time for us as a group and we can’t wait to get back on the pitch again. The first game against England will be a huge test as we’re so familiar with them.
“But our focus has remained the same and it will be really special to have family and friends with us in Toulouse. We’re hoping to make it a memorable weekend.”
The Ireland Men, meanwhile, return to World Series action in Toulouse in the first of back-to-back tournaments – the Men’s Series moves to Twickenham Stadium in London next weekend, before concluding in Los Angeles in August.
James Topping’s team are well positioned in fifth in the overall standings and have an experienced squad in Toulouse with captain Billy Dardis, Harry McNulty, Terry Kennedy, Jordan Conroy, Bryan Mollen and Jack Kelly among the eight Olympians included.
Dardis and his team-mates are in Pool D alongside South Africa (Friday, 12pm local time/11am Irish time), Samoa (Friday, 6.50pm local time/5.50pm Irish time) and Spain (Saturday, 12pm local time/11am Irish time).
Commenting ahead of the tournament, Dardis said: “We’ve had three weeks of really solid training and in that time since Singapore we’ve been able to push our bodies a lot in preparation for a really busy and important summer for us.
“It was good to get a good block of training done and we’re now champing at the bit to get going again. It’s a long weekend being a three-day tournament but the focus for us is on Friday when we play two of the in-form teams on the series in South Africa and Samoa.
“Coming off the back of Singapore and Vancouver, we can take confidence and learnings from some of the performances, notably beating Fiji and pushing New Zealand closely, and we now need to push on again this weekend.”
All matches are live on the World Rugby stream here, while there will be extensive coverage throughout the weekend on Irish Rugby social media channels, across Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
Claire Boles (Railway Union RFC)
Megan Burns (Blackrock College RFC)
Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC)
Katie Heffernan (Railway Union RFC)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC)
Brittany Hogan (Ballynahinch RFC/Old Belvedere RFC)
Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC)
Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC)
Kate Farrell McCabe (Suttonians RFC)
Anna McGann (Railway Union RFC)
Lucy Mulhall (Wicklow RFC) (capt)
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union RFC)
Jordan Conroy (Buccaneers RFC)
Billy Dardis (Terenure College RFC) (capt)
Sean Kearns (Ireland Sevens)
Jack Kelly (Dublin University FC)
Terry Kennedy (St. Mary’s College RFC)
Hugo Lennox (Skerries RFC)
Harry McNulty (UCD RFC)
Bryan Mollen (Blackrock College RFC)
Chay Mullins (IQ Rugby)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne FC)
Tom Roche (Lansdowne FC)
Andrew Smith (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC)
Friday, May 20:
Saturday, May 21:
Sunday, May 22:
All matches live on the World Rugby stream here.
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