In another historic moment for Irish Rugby, the Ireland Women’s 7s squad, sponsored by TritonLake, realised their Olympic dream last month by securing the fourth and final automatic qualification berth through the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
The team, captained by Lucy Mulhall, defeated Fiji 10-5 at the HSBC France Sevens in Toulouse to finish fifth in this season’s overall Women’s World Series standings and book their place at next summer’s Games in Paris.
Ulster's Claire Boles played a key role for Ireland, and we spoke to her about qualifying, the Olympics, and her history with rugby.
Claire, congratulations to you and the squad on securing your spot in the Olympics! Firstly, can you just tell us how it felt on the pitch to get that decisive win over Fiji?
It was a surreal moment when we all just ran together and hugged each other. We couldn’t believe that we actually did it. It’s a moment I’ll never forget, when you just feel so happy that you have done what the team set out to do.
Qualifying for the first time in front of all our family and friends that travelled over to watch us play and everyone watching at home, it was just something special.
Can you tell us about the prior experience of the Pool Stages, winning 2 games from 3?
We played started out the Friday with our first pool game against France. This was probably our best performance of the weekend, producing a strong 27-7 win. Then we played Australia in our second game that day which we lost 12-33.
The third pool game on Saturday morning against Brazil gave us our second win, 36-7. Due to France beating Australia in the final pool game it meant on points difference we met Australia again in the quarter final.
Although you didn’t feature yourself in that second Australia game, what was the feeling like in the camp after that game? What was it like knowing what was going to be on the line vs Fiji?
After that game the feelings were quite mixed after losing 7-17 even though we ran Australia tight until the last 2 minutes. Fiji and GB were both in quarter finals just after us, and for us to qualify we had to finish ahead of them in this competition.
We always had belief that it wasn’t the end of the world, there are other ways to qualify - but we were disappointed not to have the control and possibly meet them in a semi-final.
Tomorrow is always a new day and when fate landed that GB and Fiji both lost their quarterfinals as well, we knew this was our second chance to redeem ourselves and take it, which was a blessing.
It’s also a bit of history for you and the squad as the first ever Ireland side to book an automatic Olympic qualifying spot via the World Series. How good does that feel?
Amazing! We watched the men’s Sevens team qualify previously in the Monaco Olympic Repechage for the 2020 Olympics that was played in 2021.
We were so delighted for them and it’s nice now to feel how they felt when they qualified and follow in their example. Hopefully we will have both squads in the Olympics next year.
Qualifying through the World Series and finishing in the Top 5 is what we set out to do at the start of the season and to have reached our goal is unbelievable. It means that we have a full year to cherish this time, prepare and work hard.
Can you just tell us a bit about your own background in rugby, how you got started and how it came about getting involved with 7s?
I was always a sporty kid growing up, playing netball in Lisbellaw Primary School to girls' football in school and with Ballinamallard United FC, then playing hockey in secondary school.
However, I started playing tag rugby at Enniskillen Collegiate Grammar School from the age of 13. Our school had quite a long legacy of successfully playing tag-rugby for the Ulster Cup. During my time in the team we won 4 Ulster cups at Kingspan Stadium, co-captaining the team alongside Rebecca Pennell in my final year of school in 2016.
The local rugby club Enniskillen RFC came into the school for a PE lesson to teach us about XV’s rugby at the club. They invited us to come down and give it a go and that’s when I fell in love with rugby. It was just so fun playing a game you enjoyed so much with all your friends from school and meeting new people at the same time at the local club. I really think that it is the girls you play with that make it so easy and success definitely comes from that.
From playing with the Enniskillen U18s I was invited to trial and play for the Ulster U18s which was great to meet other players from different parts of Ulster. I have played with Kathryn Dane, a fellow Fermanagh woman and Ireland XV’s player in all these teams for years, and you really do make friends for life. I also played alongside Katie, my twin sister, which was nice to have family on the pitch.
When I was 17, Ulster were putting in a Sevens team to compete against the other provinces. Players in this team would then go on to get selected to play for one of the first Ireland u18 Sevens team. That year I didn’t make the cut for the Ulster team. However, the following year my school entered the first Schools Sevens rugby competition in the Aviva, of which we came runner up.
I made the U18 Ulster Sevens team that final year and got called up to play for the Ireland U18 Sevens team in the UK School Games and the Europeans in September. When I returned I trained straight in with the senior squad. Having gotten accepted to study Chemical Engineering at UCD at the end of September, I moved to Dublin to train and study. I got my first Sevens cap in the 2016/17 World Series the following year and the rest is history. Whilst training and playing Sevens over the years I have completed my Bachelors in Chemical & Bioprocessing Engineering and Masters in Biopharmaceutical Engineering at UCD.
Now I am currently undertaking a PhD with UCD in Bioprocess Engineering. The Sevens program has been so supportive over the years in allowing me to pursue both my passions and I can’t thank the IRFU Sevens management and Rugby Players Ireland enough for that.
And finally, what kind of mentality will you and the squad take to Paris next year? Is there any specific target in mind?
Our team always tries to push for excellence and a medal target is definitely in our reach. We are such a performance-driven team with a lot of heart and always have each other’s back.
Leading into next year from now, preparing for something like this with a squad you would do anything for, is going to be so exciting and unforgettable.
We want to provide a prominent pathway for girls, so that they can see what playing rugby can lead to, especially sevens, and realise the aspirations that they can have are highly achievable.