THE IRFU’S SEVENS director Anthony Eddy has announced the Ireland men and women’s squads for next week’s inaugural RugbyX at London’s O2 Arena.
RugbyX is essentially a fast-paced twist on Sevens rugby with teams playing five-a-side on a half-sized pitch for a 10-minute period without a half-time break.
Rolling replacements are permitted in the format which will dispense with conversions and line-outs.
When the ball is run out across the sideline an ‘active substitute’ from the opposition will be permitted to immediately throw the ball in and allow the game to continue. Kick-off and restarts will be replaced by a tap on the five-metre line with the opposing team 10 metres back.
“It should be a great spectacle of rugby,” says Eddy, “this is the first event of this kind and both men’s and women’s teams are looking forward to competing. There is some great opposition and it should be a tremendous display of skills.”
Eddy has included a mix of experienced Sevens campaigners and emerging talent in both his squads for the one-day tournament to play out next Tuesday 29 October.
Ireland Women, who have already started their Sevens season on the World Series, will begin the one-day four-team event against the USA and face England or France in what will either be a final or third place play-off.
Ireland Men will play through a group phase against the Barbarians and England before an evening knockout schedule begins at a qualified quarter-final stage.
Ireland Men 7s Squad for RugbyX
Aaron O’Sullivan (UCD/ Leinster Rugby)
Adam Leavy (Lansdowne)
Billy Dardis (Terenure)
Cormac Izuchukwu (Old Wesley)
Greg O’Shea (Shannon)
Harry McNulty (UCD)
Hugo Lennox (Clontarf)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne)
Terry Kennedy (St Marys)
Max O’Reilly (DUFC/ Leinster Rugby)
Sean Cribbin (Old Belvedere)
Jack Daly (Garryowen/ Munster)
Ireland Women 7s Squad for RugbyX
Claire Boles (Railway Union/ Ulster)
Deirbhile Nic A Bhaird (Old Belvedere/Munster)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union/Leinster)
Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Munster)
Kathy Baker (Blackrock/ Leinster)
Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock/Leinster)
Katie Heffernan (Mullingar/Railway Union/Leinster)
Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum)
Louise Galvin (UL Bohemian/Munster)
Lucinda Kinghan (Railway Union/Ulster)
Megan Burns (Tullamore/Leinster)
Stephanie Carroll (Railway Union)
Selected RugbyX fixtures, Tuesday
16:30 Ireland Men v Barbarians
17:00 Ireland Women v USA
17:15 Ireland Men v England
20:30 Men QF 1
20:45 Men QF2
21:00 Women 3rd/4th Play-off
21:15 Men Semi-Final 1
21:30 Men Semi-Final 2
21:45 Women’s Final
22:00 Men’s Final
Eoin Toolan and Murray Kinsella dial up Gavan Casey on the therapy couch to provide the post-mortem to Ireland’s World Cup implosion at the hands of New Zealand
