THE IRELAND MEN’S and women’s Sevens teams have opened their respective campaigns in Toulouse with one win and one defeat each.
The women powered past France for the perfect start as they bid for automatic Olympic qualification, while the men overcame Samoa — before both teams fell short to Australia.
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe bagged a brilliant hat-trick as Ireland beat France 27-7 in their Pool B opener at Stade Ernest Wallon.
Lucy Mulhall — earning her 50th tournament cap this weekend — and Megan Burns also chipped in with tries against the hosts, who trailed 22-0 at half time.
The men, operating in Pool D, kicked off with a last-minute 14-12 win against Samoa. Harry McNulty was the late hero, with Billy Dardis also on the scoresheet.
They later lost 12-5 to Australia. Liam McNamara handed Ireland the lead in the seventh minute, but tries from Henry Paterson and Nick Malouf saw the Aussies come out on top.
Their female counterparts won on a scoreline of 33-12. Similarly, Mulhall had put Ireland in front but tries from Maddison Levi (two), Teagan Levi, Charlotte Caslick and Bienne Terita cancelled out Ireland’s only other offering through Stacey Flood.
The Irish women face Brazil at 9.43am tomorrow morning, while Japan are the men’s opposition at 10.37am.
Mulhall and co. are bidding to make history in Toulouse as the race for automatic Olympic qualification reaches a thrilling conclusion.
Currently occupying the fourth and final qualification berth for next summer’s Games in Paris, a higher finish than both Fiji and Great Britain this weekend will see them book their golden ticket.
