Ireland Women are looking forward to a big year of rugby after they qualified as a core team for the 2015/16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series. It has been a summer of real progress for the Ireland Women under the guidance of head coach Anthony Eddy, culminating in their 26-14 Cup semi-final win over South Africa at the Women's Sevens Dublin tournament today - a result that booked their World Series spot. Despite falling at the final hurdle to fellow WSWS qualifiers Japan, who triumphed 13-12 at UCD thanks to a last-gasp penalty, Ireland can look back on a momentum-building campaign. They won Plate titles at both of the European Grand Prix Series events in Kazan and Malemort, finished as runners-up in Lisbon as they qualified for next June's global Olympic Repechage tournament and thanks to their efforts in Dublin, are now back at the top table of international Women's Sevens for only the second time. Ireland previously competed on the World Series circuit in 2013/14, and playing the likes of defending champions New Zealand, Canada, Australia, England, USA, France, Russia, Fiji and Spain and Japan on a regular basis this coming season will be ideal preparation for that Olympic Repechage. Speaking about Ireland's World Series qualification, captain Lucy Mulhall commented: "It is everything that we've ever wanted, last year was a very difficult year being off the World Series and we set sights on August and this tournament in qualifying. "I think playing against the top teams is the best way that you can learn and you learn so much quicker than you could ever learn on the training fields. It's going to be a big year of rugby for us and we're very excited." She added: "Japan are a serious team and I'm sure we'll have plenty more battles with them over the next year. We'll build on this and compete hard in the World Series. It was so nice to play at home with a home crowd, thanks to all the fans for coming out and supporting us." Mulhall and her team-mates won four of their six games over the weekend at the UCD Bowl, most importantly reversing their 17-5 pool defeat to South Africa yesterday. They began today's play-offs with a well-judged 27-5 quarter-final success against China, with their three-try second half haul including a brace from the assured Claire Keohane. Next up was the rematch with the Springbok Women and a strong start, with improved rucking and counter-rucking, gave Ireland the platform for a memorable 26-14 victory. They recaptured some of their best attacking form as Katie Fitzhenry, Mulhall and Alison Miller all touched down before the break. After South Africa reduced the arrears to just five points, Mulhall showed her class with a terrific try from her own chip over the top which crowned one of Ireland's best performances of the summer. In the 10-minute-a-side Cup final, the exertions of the two-day tournament caught up with Ireland in the closing stages as Japan, already with five wins in the bag, edged them out in a nail-biting climax. Tries in each half from ace finisher Amee-Leigh Crowe had Ireland 12 points to the good, but their big defensive workload took its toll as Japan put boot to ball and those kicks paid dividends with back-to-back five-pointers from Yoko Suzuki and Chiharu Nakamura. There was still enough time for the well-drilled Japanese to push for a winning score. Ashleigh Baxter was unfortunately yellow carded for a high tackle in the final seconds and lining up a central penalty in the Irish 22, Yume Okuroda held her nerve to drop-kick her side to the Dublin crown. The disappointment was obvious for the girls in green, but they can be very proud of what they achieved in booking their World Series berth. Miller accumulated eight tries over the two days in Belfield, while Crowe, Jenny Murphy and Mulhall (4 tries each) were also regular scorers. IRELAND WOMEN'S SEVENS SQUAD (Women's Sevens Dublin - UCD Bowl, Saturday 22nd - Sunday 23rd August): ...
Women & Girls
Ireland qualify for World Rugby Women's Sevens Series
24th August 2015
Ireland Women are looking forward to a big year of rugby after they qualified as a core team for the 2015/16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series. It has been a summer of real progress for the Ireland Women under the guidance of head coach Anthony Eddy, culminating in their 26-14 Cup semi-final win over South Africa at the Women's Sevens Dublin tournament today - a result that booked their World Series spot. Despite falling at the final hurdle to fellow WSWS qualifiers Japan, who triumphed 13-12 at UCD thanks to a last-gasp penalty, Ireland can look back on a momentum-building campaign. They won Plate titles at both of the European Grand Prix Series events in Kazan and Malemort, finished as runners-up in Lisbon as they qualified for next June's global Olympic Repechage tournament and thanks to their efforts in Dublin, are now back at the top table of international Women's Sevens for only the second time. Ireland previously competed on the World Series circuit in 2013/14, and playing the likes of defending champions New Zealand, Canada, Australia, England, USA, France, Russia, Fiji and Spain and Japan on a regular basis this coming season will be ideal preparation for that Olympic Repechage. Speaking about Ireland's World Series qualification, captain Lucy Mulhall commented: "It is everything that we've ever wanted, last year was a very difficult year being off the World Series and we set sights on August and this tournament in qualifying. "I think playing against the top teams is the best way that you can learn and you learn so much quicker than you could ever learn on the training fields. It's going to be a big year of rugby for us and we're very excited." She added: "Japan are a serious team and I'm sure we'll have plenty more battles with them over the next year. We'll build on this and compete hard in the World Series. It was so nice to play at home with a home crowd, thanks to all the fans for coming out and supporting us." Mulhall and her team-mates won four of their six games over the weekend at the UCD Bowl, most importantly reversing their 17-5 pool defeat to South Africa yesterday. They began today's play-offs with a well-judged 27-5 quarter-final success against China, with their three-try second half haul including a brace from the assured Claire Keohane. Next up was the rematch with the Springbok Women and a strong start, with improved rucking and counter-rucking, gave Ireland the platform for a memorable 26-14 victory. They recaptured some of their best attacking form as Katie Fitzhenry, Mulhall and Alison Miller all touched down before the break. After South Africa reduced the arrears to just five points, Mulhall showed her class with a terrific try from her own chip over the top which crowned one of Ireland's best performances of the summer. In the 10-minute-a-side Cup final, the exertions of the two-day tournament caught up with Ireland in the closing stages as Japan, already with five wins in the bag, edged them out in a nail-biting climax. Tries in each half from ace finisher Amee-Leigh Crowe had Ireland 12 points to the good, but their big defensive workload took its toll as Japan put boot to ball and those kicks paid dividends with back-to-back five-pointers from Yoko Suzuki and Chiharu Nakamura. There was still enough time for the well-drilled Japanese to push for a winning score. Ashleigh Baxter was unfortunately yellow carded for a high tackle in the final seconds and lining up a central penalty in the Irish 22, Yume Okuroda held her nerve to drop-kick her side to the Dublin crown. The disappointment was obvious for the girls in green, but they can be very proud of what they achieved in booking their World Series berth. Miller accumulated eight tries over the two days in Belfield, while Crowe, Jenny Murphy and Mulhall (4 tries each) were also regular scorers. IRELAND WOMEN'S SEVENS SQUAD (Women's Sevens Dublin - UCD Bowl, Saturday 22nd - Sunday 23rd August): ...