IRELAND’S MEN AND Women both have their destiny in their own hands after the opening day of the HSBC Sevens in Hong Kong on Friday.
James Topping’s men fell agonisingly short of a magnificent comeback in their tournament opener against six-man South Africa, battling back from 22-0 down before running out of time in a 22-17 defeat.
Second-half tries from Terry Kennedy and Zac Ward were enough to secure a 12-7 win against Samoa in their second game of the day, setting up a straight shootout against Spain on Saturday (3.39am) for automatic progression to the quarter-finals.
With the best two third-placed teams also earning quarter-final places, defeat or a draw would leave Ireland waiting on results elsewhere to seal their fate.
In the women’s tournament, Ireland got off to a flying start with a 20-7 win against South Africa, with second-half tries from Vicki Elmes Kinlan and Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe tilting a tight contest in Ireland’s favour.
But Allan Temple-Jones’ side were blown away by an awesome Australia performance in their second game of the day, losing 35-0 to the current series leaders.
They face Fiji in their final Pool B match on Saturday (4.02am), knowing — like the men — that a win would clinch a quarter-final place while defeat or a draw would leave them at the mercy of others’ results.
Elsewhere in the men’s tournament, former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper admitted to feeling “really nervous” after making his Sevens debut, the start of a journey he hopes will take him from Hong Kong to the Olympics.
The veteran of 125 Tests came on in the second half of a 12-0 victory for Australia over two-time Olympic champions Fiji.
The 32-year-old switched to Sevens after he was axed from the Wallabies squad by then coach Eddie Jones for last year’s XVs Rugby World Cup.
“I was bloody nervous, I mean really nervous on the sideline,” said Hooper, who was quickly into the action and won a turnover to seal the win against a Fiji side that have won the Hong Kong title a record 19 times.
“It’s completely new — the whole drawout of the day, the fans are already here going nuts.
“I have not started on the bench much in my career, so to come on with four minutes to go and the game in the balance, it was tough stuff.”
– Additional reporting © AFP 2024
