ANTHONY EDDY’S IRELAND Sevens side picked up three emphatic wins on the opening day of their long road to the Olympics.
Big wins over Turkey, Belarus and Montenegro sent Ireland to the top of their group at the Division C tournament, and a top seeding for tomorrow’s quarter final against Austria.
They opened up the day with a 43-5 win against Turkey in Zenica, running in seven tries and conceding just one.
Things got even better in their next game against Belarus, as they whitewashed their opponents 60-0 in a 10 try rout.
They wrapped things up with a 59-5 demolition of Montenegro, finishing with a whopping 26 tries scored and just two conceded in their three games.
Anthony Eddy’s side now move through to the last eight tomorrow against Austria, who made it into the quarter finals despite not winning a single game.Austria drew with Malta and Iceland, before losing to hosts Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it was enough to get them into the next round.
A top four finish in the tournament would guarantee Ireland’s progression to for the Division B tournament in Croatia on June 20-21.
The highest-ranked eligible team from Division B will then move through to participate in the Rugby Europe Olympic Repechage tournament which will take place in Lisbon on July 18-19.
The winner 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.
Elsewhere, the Irish Wolfhound Sevens team made it to the semi-finals of their GB 7s event in Coventry.
A clean sweep of their group left them in the last four, but they were defeated by the Samurai 7s 26-17.
