Ireland national rugby sevens team

Ireland

Union	Irish Rugby Football Union
Coach(es)	Anthony Eddy
Captain(s)	Billy Dardis
Change kit
World Cup Sevens
Appearances	5 (First in 1993)
Best result	1993 Cup Semi-final

The Ireland national rugby sevens team competes annually in European competition. Ireland recently participated in the 2017 Rugby Europe Grand Prix Series, having been promoted to the Grand Prix competition after winning the 2016 Rugby Europe Trophy division. Ireland has previously competed in individual tournaments within World Rugby Sevens Series, and has stated its goal of winning promotion to core team status in the World Series.

Ireland also competes in quadrennial rugby sevens tournaments. Ireland has competed in most Rugby World Cup Sevens since the 1993 inaugural event. The team also competes during European qualifying phases for the Summer Olympics, but failed to qualify for the inaugural rugby seens competition at the 2016 Olympics.

Following the announcement in 2009 that rugby sevens would be an Olympic sport beginning in 2016,^[1] the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) created a men's rugby sevens program in 2014. The IRFU announced in 2015 its goal to field a national sevens team that has a chance to qualify for the 2016 Olympics and joins the Sevens World Series by 2017.^[2]

Ireland defeated Ukraine 26-7 at the 2008 European Championship.

History

Ireland competed at the 1973 International Seven-A-Side Tournament, the first rugby sevens tournament for national teams. They defeated New Zealand m Australia and Scotland in the groups phase, and lost to England in the final match.

Olympic era (2009–present)

Ireland has increased its emphasis in rugby sevens since the International Olympic Committee voted in 2009 to restore rugby to the Olympics beginning in 2016. In March 2011, the IRFU announced its support for Shamrock Warriors RFC. The club's aim is to develop a pool of experienced Sevens players for the IRFU to be in position to select to develop into a future international Sevens squad to compete in tournaments by giving them experience playing in the top level competition should the IRFU become involved in professional international sevens or in the Olympic Sevens.^[3][4]

Although rugby was announced in 2009 as an Olympic sport, the IRFU was slow to recognize the opportunity. As of September 2013, the IRFU said it was unlikely to send a sevens team to the 2016 Olympics.^[5] The IRFU did not introduce a men's rugby sevens national team program until October 2014.^[6] The IRFU announced in December 2014 the hiring of Anthony Eddy as the Director of Irish rugby sevens, both the men's and women's teams.^[7] In December 2014 the IRFU issued a notice to all Irish athletes to see what if could become an Elite Sevens rugby Player. The IRFU hoped to see the best rugby club talent available as well as attracting athletes with transferable skills from other team sports such as athletics, basketball, and Gaelic Games. Four talent identification days were held across Ireland in January 2015.^[8] The IRFU entered a Sevens team in to the European Sevens Championship in Division C in June 2015.

Entering the 2017 season, with the Irish men's rugby sevens program in place for just over two years, the IRFU still had not handed out any full-time professional contracts to any sevens players.^[9] For the 2017 season, Ireland played in the European Grand Prix Sevens, which included four tournaments during summer 2017. Ireland began the Grand Prix by winning the first tournament, the 2017 Moscow Sevens, defeating Spain 12-0 in the final.

Summer Olympics

Olympics Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	L	D
2016	Did Not Qualify
Total	0 Titles	0/1	-	-	-	-

Olympic qualifying:

2016 Olympics qualifying

Ireland began Olympic qualifying by playing in Division C within Europe. In the June 6–7 2015 Division C tournament, Ireland went 6-0 in the competition to win Division C, winning all six matches by a comfortable margin. This win qualified them to participate in Division B. In the June 20–21, 2015 Division B tournament, Ireland again went 6-0 to win Division B, again winning all six matches by a comfortable margin. This win qualified them for the European repechage tournament.

In the July 18–19 2015 Rugby Europe sevens repechage in Lisbon, Ireland topped their group with wins over Italy and Georgia and a draw against Russia. In the knockout competition, Ireland defeated Lithuania 17–0 in the quarterfinals. Ireland then lost in the semifinals to Russia 10–24, but in the third-place match defeated Georgia 15–7 to finish third overall, and secure the third and final European qualifying place for the Final 2016 Men's Olympic Qualification Tournament.

The Irish team drew Samoa, Tonga and Zimbabwe in the final Olympic repechage tournament in Monaco.^[10] Ireland finished first in their group with three wins, including a close 27–21 over World Series team Samoa. Ireland lost in the quarterfinals to Spain 7–12, and did not qualify for the Olympics.^[6]

18 June 2016

Zimbabwe	12 – 24	Ireland

Monaco

18 June 2016

Samoa	21 – 27	Ireland

Monaco

18 June 2016

Tonga	12 – 31	Ireland

Monaco

19 June 2016 (QF)

Spain	12 – 7	Ireland

Monaco

Rugby World Cup Sevens

Ireland has played in five out of the six Rugby World Cup Sevens tournaments. Ireland's best finish was the inaugural 1993 tournament when they defeated opponents such as France and Samoa on the way to reaching the semifinals, before losing to Australia 19-21. Since the inaugural tournament, however, Ireland's performances were unremarkable in the four tournaments from 1997 to 2005, failing to reach the quarterfinals in four consecutive Sevens World Cups. Ireland did not qualify for the 2013 World Cup, failing to send a team to the 2012 Sevens Grand Prix qualifying tournaments.

World Rugby Sevens Series

Ireland to date has had a sparse participation in the World Rugby Sevens Series. Ireland has not qualified as one of the core teams that participated in every tournament. Ireland played in very few tournaments on the World Series, such as the occasional trip to the Hong Kong Sevens. Ireland has had some limited success in the World Series tournaments in which it has played.

Ireland competed in two of the ten tournaments of the inaugural 1999–2000 World Sevens Series: at the 2000 Hong Kong Sevens, Ireland finished 17th to win the Bowl with a 4–2 record; at the 2000 Paris Sevens, Ireland finished tied for 11th with a 3–2 record. The following season, in the 2000–01 World Sevens Series, Ireland played in the 2000 Dubai Sevens where they finished 9th to win the Bowl with a 4–2 record, including a 19–17 semifinal win over Wales.

Ireland has, however, since assembling a permanent sevens program in 2014, publicly stated in 2014 and again in 2015 that its goal is to qualify as one of the 15 core teams in the World Series by the end of 2017.^[11] Due to their second-place finish at the 2017 Sevens Grand Prix Series, Ireland advances to the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens, the qualifying tournament for the 2018-19 World Rugby Sevens Series.

European competition

2002−2014

Although Rugby Europe has held a rugby sevens championship every year since 2002, Ireland rarely participated from 2002 to 2014. Ireland participated only twice during those 13 years − in 2004 and 2008, both of which served as European regional qualifying tournaments for the following year's Rugby World Cup Sevens. Ireland finished third in the 2004 competition to qualify for the 2005 World Cup. Ireland finished fourth in the 2008 competition to qualify for the 2009 World Cup.

2015−present

The 2015 European competitions also doubled as qualifying for the 2016 Olympics. Ireland played in the Division C tournament on June 6–7 and won the tournament with a 6-0 record, its closest match being the 38–10 quarterfinal win over Austria, qualifying for Division B. Ireland then played the Division B tournament on June 20–21, and won Division B with a 6-0 record, its closest match being a 54–0 pool-play win over Slovenia, qualifying for the final repechage tournament.

Ireland played in the 2015 repechage on July 18–19 where they faced a tougher level of competition. Ireland went 2-1-0 in the repechage pool play to win its group and reach the knockout rounds. Ireland lost to Russia 10–24 in the semifinals but defeated Georgia 15–7 to take third place and secure the last qualifying spot for the final cross-continental Olympic qualifying tournament (where they lost in the quarterfinals to Spain and failed to reach the Olympics).

The 2016 Trophy competition consisted of two tournaments – Malmo and Prague. Ireland went 6-0 to win the 2016 Malmo tournament, with the closest match being the 26–12 semifinal win over Ukraine. Ireland next won the 2016 Prague tournament, again with a perfect 6-0 record, with the closest match being the 24–0 semifinal win over Romania. Ireland finished first in the 2016 Trophy competition and won promotion to the 2017 Grand Prix series.

The 2017 Grand Prix series consisted of four tournaments. Ireland began the Grand Prix by winning the 2017 Moscow Sevens with a 5–1 record, defeating Russia 28–21 in the semifinals and Spain 12–0 in the finals.^[12] Next, Ireland finished third in the 2017 Lodz Sevens with a 5–1 record, losing to Russia 19–26 in the semifinals. Ireland next won the 2017 Clermont-Ferrand Sevens with a 6–0 record, defeating Russia 17–14 in the final.^[13] In the fourth and final tournament, the 2017 Exeter Sevens, Ireland finished with a 5–1 record, losing to Wales 12–15 in the semifinals. Ireland finished the 2017 Sevens Grand Prix Series in second place two points behind Russia, thereby qualifying for the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens, and advancing to the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens qualifying tournament for the 2018-19 World Series.

Current squad

Other notable players

• Darren Cave
• James Coughlan
• Gavin Duffy
• Keith Earls
• Chris Henry
• Ian Keatley

Previous squads

See also

• Ireland national rugby union team

References