Six-Try Success Sends Ireland Men Through To Olympic Quarter-Finals

Match Photos – Ireland Men 40 Japan 5

Terry Kennedy ran in his second try of Paris 2024 and set up Mullins to make it 14-0 at half-time. Captain Harry McNulty, Niall Comerford, Mullins, and Zac Ward took the Irish try haul to six in the end.

Japan’s Shotaru Tsuoka crossed late on, but it failed to take the shine off a well-earned result for James Topping’s side, who are level with New Zealand, sitting on six points each at the top of Pool A.

Both teams have booked their quarter-final places, with Ireland having opened the tournament with a 10-5 win over South Africa, while the All Blacks Sevens ran out 17-5 winners over the Blitzboks in the last match of the day.

New Zealand are top of the table having scored one try more than Ireland (nine against eight). Tomorrow’s Pool A decider (kick-off 3.30pm Irish time) has a lot riding on it with the winners playing the bottom-ranked qualifiers at the quarter-final stage.

Speaking afterwards, McNulty said: “It is a really encouraging opening day for us, and it’s job done in terms of two wins from two.

“It’s all about a huge pool game against New Zealand tomorrow afternoon as we want to progress through as winners and give ourselves the best possible draw in the knockout stages.

“We have had incredible support in Paris today and it has been electric playing in front of this crowd, so we’re excited to come back tomorrow to raise our game and hopefully progress through the competition.”

For Ireland’s second pool match at the Stade de France, head coach Topping brought Mullins, Jack Kelly, Andrew Smith, Gavin Mullin, and Hugo Lennox into the starting line-up.

Kelly took down Japan’s kick-off, and just a few phases later, Kennedy broke around the fringes of a ruck to scorch clear from the Irish 22. His first-minute try was converted by Lennox from straight in front of the posts.

Japan gave a glimpse of their attacking threat when Moeki Fukushi broke downfield, having initially slipped out of Smith’s tackle. Kippei Taninaka was hauled down short, and Ireland scrambled to avoid conceding.

Although a Mullin knock-on gave the Japanese another shot off a five-metre scrum, a loose pass saw Fukushi slide into touch. Ireland made them pay with a second long range try, past the hooter.

Kennedy accelerated to get outside Fukushi and speed clear, and just as Yoshihiro Noguchi came across, the St. Mary’s College clubman unselfishly lobbed a pass back inside for Mullins to run in behind the posts.

Ireland scored again inside a minute of the restart, this time McNulty swooping to intercept a Josua Kerevi pass for a 40-metre run-in. Lennox knocked over his third successful conversion.

The freshly-introduced Comerford then claimed try number four. Fellow replacement Hugo Keenan’s breakdown work led to a turnover, which set up the sidestepping Kelly to break into space and link with McNulty, who slipped Comerford away on a diagonal run to the try-line.

Lennox’s conversion attempt from out wide bounced wide off the near post, but 26-0 quickly became 33-0 when Mullins raided over from just outside the Japanese 22, profiting from Ward plucking down Mark Roche’s high, hanging restart.

Japan gained a penalty in an advanced position following Taiga Ishida’s energetic kick chase. They tapped and attacked out to the left wing where Noguchi’s neat switch sent Tsuoka over.

Nonetheless, replacement Ward had the final say with a big hand-off to swat away Kazuma Ueda and romp clear from just outside the Irish 22.

With Roche converting, the 40 points beat Ireland’s previous highest total in an Olympic match (31 points against the Republic of Korea in Tokyo three years ago).

IRELAND MEN’S SEVENS Squad (Olympic Games – Paris 2024, Stade de France, July 24, 25, 27):

Niall Comerford (UCD RFC)
Jordan Conroy (Buccaneers RFC)
Hugo Keenan (UCD RFC/Leinster)
Jack Kelly (Dublin University FC)
Terry Kennedy (St. Mary’s College RFC)
Hugo Lennox (Skerries RFC)
Harry McNulty (UCD RFC) (capt)
Gavin Mullin (UCD RFC)
Chay Mullins (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht/IQ Rugby)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne FC)
Andrew Smith (Clontarf FC/Connacht)
Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC)

Travelling Reserves:

Sean Cribbin (Suttonians RFC)
Bryan Mollen (UCD RFC)

IRELAND MEN’S SEVENS Schedule – Olympic Games, Paris 2024:

Wednesday, July 24 –

POOL A:

IRELAND 10 SOUTH AFRICA 5, Stade de France
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Jordan Conroy, Terry Kennedy
South Africa: Try: Selvyn Davids
HT: Ireland 5 South Africa 0

Match Report

Match Photos

Time Line: 7+1 minutes – Ireland try: Jordan Conroy – 5-0; conversion: missed by Mark Roche – 5-0; Half-time – Ireland 5 South Africa 0; 11 mins – South Africa yellow card: Ryan Oosthuizen; 12 mins – Ireland try: Terry Kennedy – 10-0; conversion: missed by Hugo Lennox – 10-0; 14 mins – South Africa try: Selvyn Davids – 10-5; conversion: missed by Shaun Williams – 10-5; Full-time – Ireland 10 South Africa 5

Team: Harry McNulty (capt), Niall Comerford, Zac Ward, Mark Roche, Hugo Keenan, Terry Kennedy, Jordan Conroy.

Replacements used: Hugo Lennox for Roche (half-time), Jack Kelly for Ward (8 minutes), Gavin Mullin for Keenan (10), Andrew Smith for Comerford (11), Chay Mullins for Kennedy (14).

IRELAND 40 JAPAN 5, Stade de France
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Terry Kennedy, Chay Mullins 2, Harry McNulty, Niall Comerford, Zac Ward; Cons: Hugo Lennox 3, Mark Roche 2
Japan: Try: Shotaru Tsuoka
HT: Ireland 14 Japan 0

Match Photos

Time Line: 1 minutes – Ireland try: Terry Kennedy – 5-0; conversion: Hugo Lennox – 7-0; 7+1 mins – Ireland try: Chay Mullins – 12-0; conversion: Hugo Lennox – 14-0; Half-time – Ireland 14 Japan 0; 8 mins – Ireland try: Harry McNulty – 19-0; conversion: Hugo Lennox – 21-0; 10 mins – Ireland try: Niall Comerford – 26-0; conversion: missed by Hugo Lennox – 26-0; 12 mins – Ireland try: Chay Mullins – 31-0; conversion: Mark Roche – 33-0; 14 mins – Japan try: Shotaro Tsuoka – 33-5; conversion: missed by Yoshihiro Noguchi – 33-5; 14+1 mins – Ireland try: Chay Mullins – 38-5; conversion: Mark Roche – 40-5; Full-time – Ireland 40 Japan 5

Team: Jack Kelly, Andrew Smith, Harry McNulty (capt), Hugo Lennox, Gavin Mullin, Terry Kennedy, Chay Mullins.

Replacements used: Niall Comerford for Smith, Hugo Keenan for Kennedy (both 9 mins), Zac Ward for Kelly, Mark Roche for Lennox (both 11), Jordan Conroy for McNulty (12).

Thursday, July 25 –

POOL A:

NEW ZEALAND v IRELAND, Stade de France, 4.30pm local time/3.30pm Irish time

RANKING & QUARTER-FINAL MATCHES

Saturday, July 27 –

RANKING, SEMI-FINAL & MEDAL MATCHES