Successful Weekend Of Sevens

A fruitful weekend in terms of Sevens saw the Ireland Men’s Sevens team secure the European Division C title and promotion, while the Ireland Wolfhounds Sevens side improved one place on the GB7s Tour’s second leg. In total 6 Munster players featured across both sides at the weekend.

IRELAND MEN’S SEVENS

The Ireland Men's Sevens team swept past Turkey and hosts Bosnia & Herzegovina in yesterday's Rugby Europe Division C Cup semi-final and final, scoring 91 unanswered points in the process as they secured the title and promotion to Division B.

In very hot conditions in Zenica, Bosnia, Ireland chalked up their fourth successive victory of the tournament with a six-try 38-10 dismissal of Austria this morning. Young Munster’s Diarmaid McCarthy bagged a brace in the Cup quarter-final with Cian Aherne, Alex Wootton (Munster Academy), Michael Lawton and Adam Byrne also touching down.

Coached by Anthony Eddy and Stan McDowell, the Irish side then took on Turkey in a rematch in the last-four. They were 43-5 victors in the pool stages yesterday and this afternoon's semi-final ended in a 41-0 success for the men in green, with Wootton dotting down twice and the other five tries shared out by Gearoid Lyons (Munster Academy), David McGuigan, captain Tom Daly, Aaron Cairns and Byrne.

Hosts Bosnia & Herzegovina provided the opposition in the Cup final, but another professional and clinical display saw Ireland take home the silverware on a 50-0 scoreline. They ran in eight tries through Aherne, Mark Roche, Wootton (2), Lawton, Shane Layden (2) and Byrne.

Ireland ended the weekend with six wins from six, 291 points and 47 tries scored and just 20 points and four tries conceded. UCD and Leinster speedster Byrne, who crossed the whitewash in each game, topped the try-scoring charts with nine, followed by skipper Daly and Wootton (6 each) and Lyons, Roche and McCarthy (4 each).

Ireland's results in yesterday's knockout stages means they have achieved their first aim of this summer's schedule as the top four teams in Zenica gain promotion to the Rugby Europe Men's Sevens Division B tournament which will take place in Croatia over the weekend of June 20-21.

The highest ranked eligible team from Division B qualifies to participate in the Rugby Europe Olympic Repechage tournament in Lisbon on July 18-19.

The winners of the Lisbon tournament will then have the opportunity to compete in the World Olympic Repechage in 2016 to secure the last spot for Rio 2016.

Rugby Europe Men's Sevens Division C – Fixtures/Results/Pool Tables

Ireland Men's Sevens (Rugby Europe Men's Sevens Division C, June 6-7):
1. Shane Layden (Buccaneers/Connacht)
2. Gearoid Lyons (Young Munster/Munster)
3. Diarmaid McCarthy (Young Munster/Munster)
4. Adam Byrne (UCD/Leinster)
5. Aaron Cairns (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
6. Tom Daly (Lansdowne/Leinster) (capt)
7. David McGuigan (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
8. Harry McNulty (UCD/Leinster)
9. Cian Aherne (Lansdowne/Leinster)
10. Mark Roche (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11. Alex Wootton (Garryowen/Munster)
12. Michael Lawton (Exiles)

IRELAND WOLFHOUNDS SEVENS

It was also a positive weekend for the Ireland Wolfhounds at the second stage of the GB7s tour. They finished third overall in Coventry on Saturday, moving up one place from their debut tournament in Edinburgh last week.

A number of new faces made their mark as the young Irish Wolfhounds squad won four of their five games at Broadstreet RFC, bagging 23 tries in all with Ian Fitzpatrick (four), Munster’s Luke O'Dea and Terry Kennedy (three each) topping the scoring charts.

O'Dea and Ciaran Wardle were the only players involved who also saw action seven days ago in Edinburgh.

The Wolfhounds opened the pool stages in Coventry with a dominant 29-7 win over Forces Exiles, helped on their way by first half tries from O'Dea, Tadhg Beirne and the Munster Academy’s Dan Goggin.

Substitutes Dave Moore and Eoghan Grace (a member of Ireland's 2009 RWC Sevens squad) added further scores after the break with Moore converting both. Mike Collins notched the Forces' only try.

The Wolfhounds matched that five-try tally when they posted a 33-14 victory over England IPF. O'Dea scored his second try of the day, Lansdowne winger Fitzpatrick bagged a brace and Foster Horan and Matthew D'Arcy both opened their accounts.

Co-Optimist from Scotland, the Stage 1 champions, provided the opposition for the Wolfhounds' final pool fixture, and it was level-pegging at the interval – 12-12.

Ultimately, three second half tries helped the Wolfhounds take the verdict on a 29-19 scoreline, as Exiles duo Alex Kane and Wardle touched down along with Steve Toal-Lennon, Goggin and Kennedy. Munster man Alan Bennie (Clanwilliam) and Toal-Lennon kicked a conversion apiece.

The Wolfhounds advanced to the Cup semi-finals as Pool B winners, but an experienced Samurai outfit took the spoils in their last-four clash. They led 21-7 at the break and finished as 26-17 victors.

St. Mary's youngster Kennedy crossed the whitewash and the in-form O'Dea and Fitzpatrick did likewise. The Wolfhounds produced a gutsy display as they were down to five men at one stage with Grace and Goggin in the sin-bin.

Kennedy, Grace and Fitzpatrick were among the try scorers in the Wolfhounds' 31-7 triumph over England IPF in the 3rd/4th place play-off. They finished the tournament on a high with Wardle and Kane on the mark too, and Bennie (2) and Toal-Lennon added three conversions between them.

The Apache team won the Coventry leg with a dramatic 17-14 final defeat of Samurai. The GB7s Tour concludes next Saturday when the eight competing teams face off at Parc Eirias in Colwyn Bay, north Wales.

Ireland Wolfhounds' Sevens (GB7s Tour – Stage 2, Broadstreet RFC, Coventry, Saturday, June 6):
Matthew D'Arcy (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Ian Fitzpatrick (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Dan Goggin (Young Munster/Munster)
Eoghan Grace (Exiles)
Foster Horan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Dave Moore (Blackrock College/Leinster)
Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Matthew O'Regan (Exiles)
Luke O'Dea (Shannon/Munster)
Steve Toal-Lennon (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Alan Bennie (Clanwilliam/Munster)
Ciaran Wardle (Exiles)
Terry Kennedy (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Alex Kane (Exiles)

Visit www.irishrugby.ie/sevens for all Ireland Sevens news.