IRELAND HAVE NAMED a 27-man Sevens squad for the upcoming summer tournaments that could result in an Olympic place.
The squad is largely made up of academy and club players who have already stood out in the Ulster Bank League, with five Exiles products also making the cut.
Ireland’s Sevens odyssey will begin when a Wolfhounds team represents Ireland in the GB 7s series, which starts on 30 May in Edinburgh with dates also set for Coventry and Colwyn Bay in June.
The Ireland Sevens proper will begin their bid for Olympic qualification in Rugby Europe division C tournament in Bosnia and Herzogovina on 6 June. There they will face Turkey, Belarus and Montenegro in pool B. This tournament’s top four teams will win promotion to Division B, which will play out in Croatia on 20 June.
The highest ranked team from that stage will then move on to a Rugby Europe Olympic tournament. That event based in Lisbon on 18 July will award an Olympic place to the winner, with the runner-up sent to compete for the final place in Rio at the World Olympic repechage.
Ireland Sevens squad.
Cian Aherne (Lansdowne /Leinster)
Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/ Leinster)
Alan Bennie (Clanwilliam /Munster)
Adam Byrne (UCD/Leinster)
Aaron Cairns (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Tom Daly (Lansdowne/ Leinster)
Matthew D’Arcy (St. Marys/Leinster)
Ian Fitzpatrick (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Dan Goggin (Young Munster/Munster)
Eoghan Grace (Exiles)
Foster Horan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Alex Kane (Exiles)
Terry Kennedy (St Mary’s/ Leinster)
Michael Lawton (Exiles)
Shane Layden (Buccaneers/ Connacht)
Gearoid Lyons (Young Munster/ Munster)
Diarmuid McCarthy (Young Munster/Munster)
David McGuigan (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Harry McNulty (UCD/Leinster)
Dave Moore (Blackrock /Leinster)
Luke O’Dea (Shannon/ Munster)
Matthew O’Regan (Exiles)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne/ Leinster)
Steve Toal-Lennon (St Marys/ Leinster)
Conor Toolan (St Marys/ Leinster)
Ciaran Wardle (Exiles)
Alex Wootton (Garryowen/Munster)
