Munster Impress At 7s

Munster recorded an impressive opening day at the inaugural World Club 7s in Thomond Park today topping pool C with three wins out of three.

The youthful side, coached by former Munster player and Ireland 7s player Colm McMahon, now advance to the cup quarter-finals after overcoming San Francisco, Daveta and Moscow Saracens today.

As second seeds the pool C winners will face today’s pool opposition Fijian-side Daveta, who are seeded 7^th, at 12.59pm tomorrow.

Captain Ronan O’Mahony led by example from the off and he was aided by his senior colleagues Luke O’Dea, Cian Bohane, Shane Buckley and Gerhard van den Heever who all looked comfortable making the switch to the seven-man code.

Munster youngsters Rory Scannell, Darren Sweetnam, Ryan Murphy, Stephen Fitzgerald, Jamie Glynn, Tomás Quinlan and Ned Hodson also embraced the faster paced game. Playing pivotal roles today they displayed great composure and skill in overcoming the more experienced opposition.

As mixed as the weather was with brilliant sunshine and thunder storms the crowds remained in their thousands until the final game and Thomond Park was abuzz with the home-support spurring the young Munster side on to victory.

It was a day of searing line-breaks and crashing hits as O’Dea, O’Mahony, Fitzgerald, Scannell and Sweetnam danced around the opposition while Buckley used his strength and power to hit everything in sight.

Day 1 Overview

Game 1: After a turnover ball deep inside the Munster 22 Rory Scannell set Ronan O’Mahony off as he sprinted down the wing for the opening try of the day. Shane Buckley and Rory Scannell increased the tally in the second half with a try each to give a final score of 17-7 against San Francisco.

Game 2: Early converted tries from Luke O’Dea and Ronan O’Mahony gave a 14 nil lead at the break against Moscow Saracens before Gerhard van den Heever was forced to retire with a knee injury. Saracens replied with their own converted try before Stephen Fitzgerald found space for an impressive solo try which he converted to extend Munster’s lead to 21-7. Moscow finished with a final score to reduce the gap but Munster had done enough to secure their second victory.

With Gerhard ruled out for the remainder of the tournament centre/winger Mark Roche was recruited from the Combined Squad. Roche plays his club rugby with Lansdowne and is a former Ireland U20s and Ireland Clubs player.

Play was suspended due to the adverse weather conditions and the remaining pool games didn’t resume until 6pm.

Game 3: It was a close affair in the final game with the scores level at 5 all at half-time with Munster’s try coming from Luke O’Dea. Darren Sweetnam closed the day out with 2 well taken tries in the closing 7’ and Munster secured a quarter final spot with their 17-5 victory.

Sunday: Munster face Daveta in the Cup quarter final at 12.59pm.

Tickets are on sale from the Ticketmaster unit at Hassett's Cross on match-day.