Ireland Women Face Olympic Shootout With Fiji

The final automatic qualifying place for next year’s Olympics Games will be awarded tomorrow, as the last leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series comes to an exciting climax in the south of France.

Ireland (64 points), Fiji (62) and Great Britain (60) are the teams vying for that last automatic Olympic spot, so a win for Allan Temple-Jones’ side over Fiji in the 5th place semi-final (kick-off 9am local time/8am Irish time) would book their ticket to Paris 2024.

Britain lost their evening quarter-final to hosts France, going down 28-10, so the Ireland-Fiji match is now a straight shootout for that Olympic berth. The losers will have other chances to qualify via the regional and global repechage routes.

The Toulouse tournament’s fifth-place finishers earn 12 points, with a two-point differential if you finish higher or low. New Zealand, the World Series champions for 2023, Australia, the USA and France, as the host nation, have booked their Olympic tickets.

Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe bagged a brace of tries in Ireland’s 36-7 win over Brazil this morning, but a shock victory for France over Australia meant the girls in green missed out on being Pool B’s runners-up, progressing instead as the best third-place finishers across the pools.

Presented with a rematch with the Australians, they lost out 17-7 in the last-eight, their only try coming late on when Eve Higgins barged over after tapping a close-in penalty.

Murphy Crowe’s in-and-out run saw her blaze clear of newcomer Yasmin Soares for Ireland’s first try against Brazil, with the quality of passes from captain Lucy Mulhall and Megan Burns releasing her inside the opening minute.

There were limited scoring chances during a stop-start first half, but Ireland’s territorial advantage eventually led to two late scores and a 19-0 half-time lead.

Murphy forced a knock-on and Emily Lane sniped from the resulting scrum, her nicely-delayed pass setting up Mulhall to step off her left and crash over, five metres in from the touchline.

Ireland then took advantage of Luiza Campos’ yellow card, Murphy Crowe and Lane leading a counter-ruck that gained a penalty and Mulhall floated a pass wide for Higgins to run in try number three.

Higgins flicked a tremendous offload out the back door for Murphy Crowe to make it 26-0 in the ninth minute, while Béibhinn Parsons opened her Toulouse account soon after as Ireland went quickly from a Higgins-won turnover penalty.

The heavily-involved Stacey Flood plucked down the restart and sped off for the try-line, handing off Campos to extend the lead to 36 points. The only blip was Gabriela Lima’s late breakaway effort to get Brazil on the board.

With France’s late surge seeing them overcome Australia, the three leading teams in Pool B finished level on seven points each. Scoring difference separated them, with Ireland narrowly squeezed out by France for the runners-up spot.

That meant that Mulhall and her team-mates, as the best third-place finishers, were pitted against Australia at the quarter-final stage. They fell behind to a first-minute try from teenager Teagan Levi, who burst clear from Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea’s offload.

A big scrum penalty launched Ireland forward, but Burns’ attempt to bring Murphy Crowe in off her wing failed to work out. Knock-ons thwarted both sides’ progress in the lead up to half-time.

Good work from the ever-influential Mulhall almost saw her get away from Teagan Levi, and the inrushing Flood knocked on with some space opening up in front of her.

Australia’s push for a late first half try was denied, Murphy Crowe coming up with a brilliant ball-dislodging tackle on Maddison Levi, but two Irish knock-ons proved costly early on the resumption.

Teagan Levi bumped Mulhall out of her way before sending Biene Terita in from the right wing to make it 12-0. The half-time replacement followed up with a decisive second try in the 11th minute, having the gas to score from her own 22.

It was a 10-point deficit in the end for Ireland who finished the game strongly. Their passing and angles of running improved late on, Higgins using her own quickly-taken penalty to muscle over from close range.

You can watch all the action on the World Rugby Sevens Series website and app, while there will be live updates throughout the weekend on the Irish Rugby Twitter and Instagram pages.

IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Squad (HSBC France Sevens, Stade Ernest Wallon, Toulouse, Friday, May 12-Sunday, May 14, 2023):

Kathy Baker (Blackrock College RFC)
Claire Boles (Railway Union RFC)
Megan Burns (Blackrock College RFC)
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union RFC)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC)
Katie Heffernan (Railway Union RFC)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union 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)
Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC)

IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Schedule – HSBC France Sevens:

Friday, May 12 –

POOL B:

FRANCE 7 IRELAND 27, Stade Ernest Wallon
Scorers: France: Try: Séraphine Okemba; Con: Caroline Drouin
Ireland: Tries: Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe 3, Lucy Mulhall, Megan Burns; Con: Lucy Mulhall
HT: France 0 Ireland 22

Team: Stacey Flood, Eve Higgins, Béibhinn Parsons, Emily Lane, Lucy Mulhall (capt), Megan Burns, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.

Subs used: Erin King, Kathy Baker, Anna McGann, Claire Boles, Kate Farrell McCabe.

AUSTRALIA 33 IRELAND 12, Stade Ernest Wallon
Scorers: Australia: Tries: Maddison Levi 2, Teagan Levi, Charlotte Caslick, Bienne Terita; Cons: Teagan Levi 3, Dominque du Toit
Ireland: Tries: Lucy Mulhall, Stacey Flood; Con: Lucy Mulhall
HT: Australia 7 Ireland 12

Team: Stacey Flood, Eve Higgins, Béibhinn Parsons, Emily Lane, Lucy Mulhall (capt), Megan Burns, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.

Subs used: Erin King, Kathy Baker, Claire Boles, Anna McGann, Kate Farrell McCabe.

Day 1 Round-Up: Ireland Women Remain On Course Despite Australia Defeat

Saturday, May 13 –

POOL B:

IRELAND 36 BRAZIL 7, Stade Ernest Wallon
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe 2, Lucy Mulhall, Eve Higgins, Béibhinn Parsons, Stacey Flood; Cons: Lucy Mulhall 3
Brazil: Try: Gabriela Lima; Con: Luiza Campos
HT: Ireland 19 Brazil 0

Team: Stacey Flood, Eve Higgins, Béibhinn Parsons, Emily Lane, Lucy Mulhall (capt), Megan Burns, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.

Subs used: Kathy Baker, Erin King. Not used: Anna McGann, Claire Boles, Kate Farrell McCabe.

CUP QUARTER-FINAL:

AUSTRALIA 17 IRELAND 7, Stade Ernest Wallon
Scorers: Australia: Tries: Teagan Levi, Bienne Terita 2; Con: Teagan Levi
Ireland: Try: Eve Higgins; Con: Lucy Mulhall
HT: Australia 7 Ireland 0

Team: Stacey Flood, Eve Higgins, Béibhinn Parsons, Emily Lane, Lucy Mulhall (capt), Megan Burns, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.

Subs used: Kathy Baker, Erin King, Anna McGann, Kate Farrell McCabe. Not used: Claire Boles.

Sunday, May 14 –

5TH PLACE SEMI-FINAL:

IRELAND v FIJI, Stade Ernest Wallon, 9am local time/8am Irish time