IRELAND’S MEN ARE on course to top their pool on the opening weekend of the Rugby Europe Championship 7s in the Algarve.

With their sights firmly set on the Olympic qualifying tournament later this month, Ireland got their preparations off to the best possible start with wide-margin wins over Belgium and France on Friday.

Tries from Zac Ward, Dylan O’Grady, Jack Kelly, Liam McNamara and Jordan Conroy earned a comfortable 31-7 win over Belgium in the Pool C opener.

And Ireland continued that ruthless form to beat France 34-7 in their second game of the day.

Ireland raced into an early 17-0 lead through tries from Ward, Conroy and Andrew Smith.

Alexis Levron responded to put the first French points on the board before Smith crossed for his second of the half to make it 22-7 at the break, with Harry McNulty and O’Grady adding tries after the restart to put the result beyond all doubt.

Ireland’s final pool game is against Great Britain at 10.52am Irish time on Saturday.

Earlier on Friday, Ireland Women made it two wins from two to seal their passage to the quarter-finals in comfortable style.

With their Olympic qualification already secured, head coach Allan Temple is using this tournament to build experience and squad depth.

But it was a clinical hat-trick from a familiar face in Beibhinn Parsons that steered Ireland to a 27-0 win over Sweden in their opening game.

Parsons’s first and a try from Eve Higgins put Ireland 10-0 up at the break before a quick double for Parsons, and a try from Megan Burns, completed a straightforward win.

Ireland followed that up with a seven-try victory over Germany on Friday afternoon, 43-5, to guarantee a runner-up finish at worst in Pool B ahead of a winner-take-all decider against Spain on Saturday morning (8.44am Irish time).