Ireland national rugby sevens team

Ireland has increased its emphasis in rugby sevens since the International Olympic Committee voted in 2009 to restore rugby to the events program in 2016. In March 2011, the IRFU announced its support for Shamrock Warriors RFC. The club's aim is to develop a pool of experienced Sevens players for the IRFU to be in position to select to develop into a future international Sevens squad to compete in tournaments by giving them experience playing in the top level competition should the IRFU become involved in professional international sevens or in the Olympic Sevens.[4][5]

Although rugby was announced in 2009 as an Olympic sport, the IRFU was slow to recognize the opportunity. As of September 2013, the IRFU said it was unlikely to send a sevens team to the 2016 Summer Olympics.[6] The IRFU did not introduce a men's rugby sevens national team program until October 2014.[7] The IRFU announced in December 2014 the hiring of Anthony Eddy as the Director of Irish rugby sevens, both the men's and women's teams.[8] In December 2014 the IRFU issued a notice to all Irish athletes to see what if could become an Elite Sevens rugby player. The IRFU hoped to see the best rugby club talent available as well as attracting athletes with transferable skills from other team sports such as athletics, basketball, and Gaelic Games. The IRFU held four talent identification days across Ireland in January 2015.[9]

The IRFU announced in May 2015 its brand new 27-man squad for the 2015 season, selected out of a pool of more than 300 applicants, a squad that later became known as “The Originals”.[10] The new team started at the bottom, beginning the 2015 season in Europe's Division C, with an eye towards gaining promotion to higher levels of competition. The highlight of Ireland's 2015 and 2016 seasons was the attempt to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the 2015 Europe Olympic Repechage Tournament, Ireland finished with 4–1–1 record, and despite a 10–24 semifinal loss to Russia, their third-place finish gained the last European slot for the 2016 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament. At the 2016 Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Ireland finished pool play with a 3–0 record including a 27–21 win over Samoa, but with losses to Spain (7–12) and Canada (19–24) during knockout play Ireland failed to advance to the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Entering the 2017 season, with the Irish men's rugby sevens program in place for just over two years, the IRFU still had not handed out any full-time professional contracts to any sevens players.[11] For the 2017 summer season, Ireland played in the European Grand Prix Sevens, which included four tournaments during summer 2017. Ireland began the Grand Prix by winning the first tournament, the 2017 Moscow Sevens, defeating Spain 12–0 in the final.

For the 2017–18 season, Ireland selected a core squad of 14 players that would prioritize Sevens play for the autumn 2017 tournaments, although they are not full-time Sevens players, and they retain their club status.[12] Ireland finished ninth at the 2017 Silicon Valley Sevens with a 3–2 record; their record against World Series core teams was a respectable 2–2, with two wins over Canada.

As of December 2018 the IRFU was due to announce shortly their first-ever professional contracts for sevens players.[13] In May 2019, despite the squad qualifying for the World Rugby Sevens Series, the IRFU announced that players would remain on an 18,000 basic annual salary with bonuses of 500 for participating in each of the 10 World Series tournaments — the equivalent of a development contract.

The following table shows the leading Irish players during the 2019–20 Sevens Series season.

• Updated as of 09 March 2020

Ireland began Olympic qualifying by playing in Division C within Europe. In the June 6–7 2015 Division C tournament, Ireland went 6–0 in the competition to win Division C, winning all six matches by a comfortable margin. This win qualified them to participate in Division B. In the June 20–21, 2015 Division B tournament, Ireland again went 6–0 to win Division B, again winning all six matches by a comfortable margin. This win qualified them for the European repechage tournament.[22]

In the July 18–19 2015 Rugby Europe sevens repechage in Lisbon, Ireland topped their group with wins over Italy and Georgia and a draw against Russia.[23] In the knockout competition, Ireland defeated Lithuania 17–0 in the quarterfinals. Ireland then lost in the semifinals to Russia 10–24, but in the third-place match defeated Georgia 15–7 to finish third overall, and secure the third and final European qualifying place for the Final 2016 Men's Olympic Qualification Tournament.[24]

The Irish team drew Samoa, Tonga and Zimbabwe in the final Olympic repechage tournament in Monaco.[25] Ireland finished first in their group with three wins, including a close 27–21 over World Series team Samoa. Ireland lost in the quarterfinals to Spain, 7–12, and did not qualify for the Olympics.[7]

Ireland finished third at the 2019 Rugby Europe qualifying tournament. With this result, they failed to gain an automatic berth in the 2020 Olympics, but gained a spot in the final inter-continental playoff tournament for the last qualifying spot in the 2020 Olympics.

Although Rugby Europe has held a rugby sevens championship every year since 2002, Ireland rarely participated from 2002 to 2014. Ireland participated only twice during those 13 years − in 2004 and 2008, both of which served as European regional qualifying tournaments for the following year's Rugby World Cup Sevens. Ireland finished third in the 2004 competition to qualify for the 2005 World Cup. Ireland finished fourth in the 2008 competition to qualify for the 2009 World Cup.

The 2015 European competitions also doubled as qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Ireland played in the Division C tournament on June 6–7 and won the tournament with a 6–0 record, its closest match being the 38–10 quarterfinal win over Austria, qualifying for Division B. Ireland then played the Division B tournament on June 20–21, and won Division B with a 6–0 record, its closest match being a 54–0 pool-play win over Slovenia, qualifying for the final repechage tournament.

Ireland played in the 2015 repechage on July 18–19 where they faced a tougher level of competition. Ireland went 2-1-0 in the repechage pool play to win its group and reach the knockout rounds. Ireland lost to Russia in the semifinals, 10–24, but defeated Georgia 15–7 to take third place and secure the last qualifying spot for the final cross-continental Olympic qualifying tournament. They lost in these quarterfinals to Spain and did not make the 2016 Summer Olympics medal round.

The 2016 Trophy competition consisted of two tournaments – Malmo and Prague. Ireland went 6–0 to win the 2016 Malmo tournament, with the closest match being the 26–12 semifinal win over Ukraine. Ireland next won the 2016 Prague tournament, again with a perfect 6–0 record, with the closest match being the 24–0 semifinal win over Romania. Ireland finished first in the 2016 Trophy competition and won promotion to the 2017 Grand Prix series.

The 2017 Grand Prix series consisted of four tournaments. Ireland began the Grand Prix by winning the 2017 Moscow Sevens with a 5–1 record, defeating Russia 28–21 in the semifinals and Spain 12–0 in the finals.[27] Next, Ireland finished third in the 2017 Lodz Sevens with a 5–1 record, losing to Russia 19–26 in the semifinals. Ireland next won the 2017 Clermont-Ferrand Sevens with a 6–0 record, defeating Russia 17–14 in the final.[28] In the fourth and final tournament, the 2017 Exeter Sevens, Ireland finished with a 5–1 record, losing to Wales 12–15 in the semifinals. Ireland finished the 2017 Sevens Grand Prix Series in second place two points behind Russia, thereby qualifying for the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens, and advancing to the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens qualifying tournament for the 2018-19 World Series.

In the 2018 Europe Grand Prix Series, Ireland started strong, winning the 2018 Moscow Sevens with a 6–0 record, winning all six matches by a margin of more than 20 points.

The tables show player career statistics from the World Rugby Sevens Series up to 10 March 2020.[32]