THERE WAS FURTHER disappointment today in Perth for the Ireland Sevens rugby teams as the HSBC World Sevens Series continues.
Both James Topping’s men’s side and Allan Temple-Jones’ women’s team have new-look outfits, and had got off to poor starts as they both lost their opening two pool games yesterday.
The Ireland men’s side lost 17-0 to Great Britain today in Pool B, with Sunni Jardine bagging two tries to the winners, while Freddie Roddick opening the scoring with a try and added one conversion.
They were then defeated in the 9th place semi-final by New Zealand, suffering a 42-5 reversal as they conceded six tries and only managed one consolation effort in response through Jordan Conroy.
The Ireland women’s team were defeated 26-5 by Brazil in Pool A with Lucinda Kinghan touching down for an early try, before Brazil took over and weighed in with four tries.
They then later lost out 24-7 against Fiji in the 9th place semi-final with Hannah Clarke supplying Ireland’s try.
Tomorrow’s action in Perth will see both Ireland teams playing in 11th place play-offs. The men’s side play the USA at 5.30am (Irish time), before the women’s side face Spain at 5.52am.
It’s not an Olympics year so we’re not pretending to care at the minute
It’s a pity to see both teams fall away from their highs in recent years. Hopefully they will build and improve.
@Karl Murray: Let’s hope they can at least avoid relegation during the rebuilding phase!