‘To Come Out With A Win Like That Is Really Encouraging’

Ireland Men’s Sevens captain, Billy Dardis, says his side will need to bring even greater physicality and intensity to Saturday’s Pool games against Samoa and Kenya at the Cape Town Sevens as they look to build on a brilliant opening victory over Australia.

Terry Kennedy‘s late try sealed a memorable win for Anthony Eddy‘s men on Friday but it will count for little if Ireland can’t maintain that level of performance going into the Pool D clashes against powerful outfits Samoa (11.19am local time/9.19am Irish time) and Kenya (4.47pm local time/2.47pm Irish time).

“To come out against Australia who put a big score on us last week and win is really encouraging,” Dardis told IrishRugby.ie. “But you don’t win anything on day one, especially when it’s only one game. We’ve got to get really up for two big challenges as Kenya and Samoa are two physical teams.

“To come away with a win in that kind of style is a real boost going forward for us into Saturday and for the rest of the Series. Now we’ll just look to build on that and push on.”

Saturday’s action from the Cape Town Stadium is live on Sky Sports Action.