LAST UPDATE | 17 Jul 2022
IRELAND’S WOMEN’S AND men’s 7s teams have both qualified for the World Cup in South Africa this year.
The Irish sides are in Bucharest this weekend for the Rugby Europe qualifying competition and have both secured their places at the World Cup, which will take place in Cape Town in September.
The Irish teams came into these competitions as strong favourites to secure one of the four places on offer at the World Cup and their results have backed that status up.
The women’s team started with a 62-0 win over Wales and then beat Germany 27-0 yesterday.
Aiden McNulty’s side wrapped up the pool stages with a 52-0 victory against the Czech Republic earlier today to secure their place in the quarter-finals, where they notched a 36-0 win over Portugal to earn their place at the World Cup.
Meanwhile, the Ireland men’s 7s team started their pool campaign with a 73-0 hammering of Poland before they beat Portugal 29-0 yesterday.
They concluded a clean sweep of their pool with a 21-5 victory over Italy earlier and then faced Georgia in their crucial quarter-final for a place at the World Cup.
James Topping’s men had a poor start as the Georgians scored early on, but Ireland scored two quick-fire tries from Ed Kelly and Terry Kennedy before half-time to put themselves back in front with a 12-7 lead at the break.
They had another scare in the second half as Mark Roche was sin-binned but Georgia couldn’t take advantage from close-range and Ireland went down the other end to score through Bryan Mollen.
The Georgians scored a late consolation try but a 17-12 win was enough to see Ireland into the World Cup.
Ireland women’s 7s squad:
- Claire Boles (Railway Union RFC)
- Megan Burns (Blackrock College RFC)
- Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC)
- Katie Heffernan (Railway Union RFC)
- Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC)
- Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC)
- Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC)
- Lucinda Kinghan (Railway Union RFC/DCU RFC)
- Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC)
- Kate Farrell McCabe (Suttonians RFC)
- Anna McGann (Railway Union RFC)
- Lucy Mulhall (Wicklow RFC) (captain)
- Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union RFC)
Ireland men’s 7s squad:
- Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC)
- Matt McDonald (IQ Rugby)
- Harry McNulty (UCD RFC)
- Bryan Mollen (Blackrock College RFC)
- Billy Dardis (Terenure College RFC) (captain)
- Jordan Conroy (Buccaneers RFC)
- Hugo Lennox (Skerries RFC)
- Mark Roche (Lansdowne FC)
- Terry Kennedy (St. Mary’s College RFC)
- Sean Cribbin (Suttonians RFC)
- Chay Mullins (IQ Rugby)
- Ed Kelly (Dublin University FC)
- Aaron O’Sullivan (Ireland Sevens)
- This article was updated at 8.36pm to correct an error that stated Ireland would look to win their tournaments. They both ended at the quarter-final stage.
