‘We Need To Finish On A High As A Group’ – Mullins

Chay Mullins, the youngest member of the Ireland Men’s Sevens squad, felt their decision-making let them down at times during an agonising 19-15 Olympic quarter-final defeat to Fiji.

The Ireland Sevens programme’s first ever Olympic knockout match ended in deflating fashion in Paris, as the Men’s team were undone by back-to-back tries from replacements Joji Nasova and Waisea Nacuqu.

Fiji’s bench gave them the shot in the arm that they needed – 12 points in all – after Ireland had erased a first-minute deficit thanks to Mullins’ powerfully-finished brace of tries before half-time.

Zac Ward’s blindside snipe pushed James Topping’s charges into a 15-7 lead, but Fiji overturned their biggest ever deficit in an Olympic knockout tie to keep their three-in-a-row title bid on track.

“Massively disappointing,” said the 22-year-old Mullins, speaking after the game. “They’re the only two words I can really think of. Speechless.

“Gutted is the main emotion, to be honest. We’re getting out here with a goal of just obviously, yesterday it was winning those two games and today it was getting past the quarter-final – we didn’t do that.

“We controlled the game really well against Fiji there in the first half, and there were parts in the second half where we did really well again. I just think it was just moments where we let it slip really.

“We obviously wanted to make it through the quarter-final and we felt like we were there, that we had them, and for the majority of the game we were the better team. Again, just decision-making and just slight drop-offs (cost us).”

While frustrated to be out of medal contention, Mullins has made a sizable impression on the tournament. The Olympic debutant has played in all four matches so far, making two starts and contributing handsomely in attack with four tries as Ireland’s leading scorer.

The IQ Rugby recruit, who recently signed his first professional contract with Connacht Rugby, is currently joint-second to USA speedster Perry Baker (five tries) as the Men’s Rugby Sevens competition takes a breather before Saturday’s concluding play-off clashes.

Having also touched down twice against Japan in the pool stages, Mullins is confident that this year’s HSBC SVNS Series League runners-up can quickly refocus and lift themselves for a big final push with fifth place still to aim for.

The Ireland Men are guaranteed their best finish on the Olympic stage having ranked 10th on their debut in Tokyo. They will be back in action against the USA at 2pm Irish time on Saturday, with New Zealand and SVNS Series champions Argentina on the other side of the draw.

“It’s just about righting those wrongs. It’s the Olympics at the end of the day and those are the consequences and we just have to go into the next two games with a positive mindset,” admitted the Bristol-born player.

“It’s a tough one to take but Harry (McNulty) just said it there that we need to finish on a high as a group. All we can really do is look to the last two games.”

Mullins, the former Bristol Bears Academy talent, first came to prominence in the 15s game, scoring three tries to help the Ireland Under-20s to Grand Slam glory in 2022.

He made his Ireland Sevens debut on the World Series in Singapore just three weeks later, and ended the calendar year as a Rugby World Cup Sevens bronze medallist, and with valuable experience gained on the Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa.

A back-three specialist in 15s, he is a versatile option in Sevens as a back or forward, given his size at 6ft 4in and 94kg. He used it to very good effect last night, starting in place of Jordan Conroy on the wing and causing plenty of problems for the Fijian defence.

He did really well to ground his first try, under pressure from Jerry Tuwai and Selesitino Ravutaumada, and then cut inside the latter to double his and Ireland’s tally just before the break.

More of the same will be required if Ireland are to close out their Olympic Games campaign with back-to-back victories. The USA were held scoreless by Australia in their quarter-final loss, and will be eager to go one better after claiming sixth spot in Tokyo.

“We did have higher hopes than how we finished here, but we still have two games on Saturday,” added Mullins.

“We’ve still got those opportunities, and there are lads here who might not be here next year and we just want to finish on a high as a group.

“We can see how we let it slip, what we did wrong, also what we did well because I think there were huge moments in that game where we looked, well, we know we’re a top class team.

“There’s just moments that showed that. We can only just take that into the next two games.”