McNulty Steps Into Breach As Ireland Men Battle Illness In Cape Town

Former captain Harry McNulty, who was in Cape Town doing media work for the HSBC SVNS Series, had to answer Ireland’s call and put his boots back on barely a week after announcing his retirement from the game.

McNulty had been in a commentators’ meeting on Friday, but was back running out onto the pitch with his old team-mates yesterday as the illness in camp, which affected both the Men’s and Women’s squads, sidelined a number of players who required medical treatment.

James Topping’s men could only field nine players for the pool stages, with a new format for the second of the back-to-back events – based on player welfare considerations following consultation with the teams – featuring four pools of three teams with direct qualification for the semi-finals for the group winners.

Shannon flyer Josh Costello ran in Ireland’s only tries as they went down 36-7 to hosts South Africa and 29-7 to Argentina, last season’s League winners. A bottom place finish in Pool C put them in the 9th-12th place play-off bracket.

Captained by Bryan Mollen, Topping’s side were down to just eight players today but again showed their battling qualities, running Australia and Uruguay close despite only operating with one replacement compared to their opponents’ full benches.

Mollen’s seventh-minute score was not enough in a 12-7 loss to Australia, and Uruguay also pipped them by the same scoreline after a late levelling try from Mark Roche had taken the game to extra-time.

Despite a sterling effort as they were really up against it on both days, Ireland’s 12th place finish in the South African heat leaves them bottom of the overall table on 3 points, behind the USA (4), Uruguay (6), Kenya (11), and Great Britain (12).

They will aim to climb up the rankings in the New Year, beginning with the third leg of this season’s SVNS Series in Perth on January 24-26. Tickets are available here for the bumper three-day event in Western Australia, where the Men’s side were bronze medallists almost twelve months ago.

To give some context on how much of a transitional period this is for the Ireland Men’s Sevens programme, they began last week’s season opener in Dubai with five SVNS Series debutants, and two other players with only one and two tournaments under their belts respectively.

Of the group that won bronze in Perth, Sean Cribbin, Jack Kelly, Terry Kennedy, McNulty, Gavin Mullin, Chay Mullins, who scored a hat-trick on his Connacht debut yesterday, Dylan O’Grady, Connor O’Sullivan, and Zac Ward were all missing from the squad list for the start of the 2024/25 campaign.

IRELAND MEN’S SEVENS Squad (HSBC SVNS Series – HSBC SVNS Cape Town, DHL Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa, Saturday, December 7-Sunday, December 8, 2024):

Tadhg Brophy (Lansdowne FC)
Niall Comerford (UCD RFC)
Jordan Conroy (Buccaneers RFC)
Josh Costello (Shannon RFC)
James Dillon (Old Belvedere RFC)
Nicky Greene (Garryowen FC)
Ed Kelly (Dublin University FC)
Josh Kenny (Ireland Sevens)
Hugo Lennox (Skerries RFC)
Harry McNulty
Bryan Mollen (Old Belvedere RFC) (capt)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne FC)
Rory Woods (Ireland Sevens)

IRELAND MEN’S SEVENS Results – HSBC SVNS Series – Cape Town:

Saturday, December 7 –

POOL C:

SOUTH AFRICA 36 IRELAND 7, DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Scorers: South Africa: Tries: David Brits, Quewin Nortje 2, Impi Visser 2, Mfundo Ndhlovu; Cons: Ricardo Duarttee 2, Shaun Williams
Ireland: Try: Josh Costello; Con: Tadhg Brophy
HT: South Africa 24 Ireland 0

Team: Niall Comerford, Mark Roche, Rory Woods, Tadhg Brophy, Bryan Mollen (capt), Josh Costello, Jordan Conroy.

Replacements used: Harry McNulty, Nicky Greene.

ARGENTINA 29 IRELAND 7, DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Scorers: Argentina: Tries: Santiago Mare, Joaquin Pellandini, Marcos Moneta, Agustin Fraga, Luciano Gonzalez; Cons: Joaquin Pellandini, Tobias Wade
Ireland: Try: Josh Costello, Con: Tadhg Brophy
HT: Argentina 19 Ireland 0

Team: Harry McNulty, Niall Comerford, Nicky Greene, Mark Roche, Bryan Mollen (capt), Josh Costello, Jordan Conroy.

Replacements used: Tadhg Brophy, Rory Woods.

Sunday, December 8 –

9TH PLACE SEMI-FINAL:

AUSTRALIA 12 IRELAND 7, DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Scorers: Australia: Tries: James Turner, Aden Ekanayake; Con: Hayden Sargeant
Ireland: Try: Bryan Mollen; Con: Mark Roche
HT: Australia 5 Ireland 7

Team: Rory Woods, Niall Comerford, Nicky Greene, Tadhg Brophy, Mark Roche, Bryan Mollen (capt), Josh Costello.

Replacements used: Harry McNulty.

11TH PLACE PLAY-OFF:

IRELAND 7 URUGUAY 12 (after extra time), DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Scorers: Try: Mark Roche; Con: Tadhg Brophy
Uruguay: Tries: Juan Manuel Tafernaberry, Guillermo Lijtenstein; Con: Juan Manuel Tafernaberry
HT: Ireland 0 Uruguay 7

Team: Harry McNulty, Niall Comerford, Rory Woods, Tadhg Brophy, Mark Roche, Nicky Greene, Bryan Mollen (capt).

Replacements used: Josh Costello.