Ireland women's national rugby sevens team

The Ireland women's national rugby sevens team participates in international competitions such as the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Rugby Europe Women's Sevens and Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics.[1] Unlike the Ireland women's national rugby union team, the sevens team is a professional team with players contracted to the Irish Rugby Football Union.[2][3]

For the men's team, see Ireland national rugby sevens team.
Ireland
EmblemShamrock
UnionIrish Rugby Football Union
Head coachAnthony Eddy
CaptainLucy Mulhall
First colours
Second colours
World Cup
Appearances1
Websitewww.irishrugby.ie

World Rugby Women's Sevens Series

Ireland first competed in the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series as an invited team in 2012–13. They entered the 2013 China Women's Sevens and won the Plate competition. After finishing as quarter-finalists in the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Ireland qualified to be a core team for 2013–14.[4] Ireland did not participate in 2014–15 but returned as a core team in 2015–16 after finishing as runners up to Japan in a qualifying tournament hosted at UCD Bowl in August 2015.[5] Ireland remained as a core team for 2016–17 and 2017–18. Ireland have never won a Cup at any of the Series tournaments but they have won Challenge Trophies, Plates and Bowls. Ireland's best performance in the Series came in 2016–17 when they finished ninth overall and gained their first ever wins against Fiji, England and France.[6] In April 2017 Sene Naoupu scored three tries as Ireland won the Challenge Trophy at the 2017 Japan Women's Sevens, defeating Spain 26–7 in the final.[7] In 2016 and 2017 they also won two successive Challenge Trophies at the Dubai Women's Sevens.[8][9]

Tournaments

Rugby World Cup Sevens

Ireland made their Rugby World Cup Sevens debut at the 2013 tournament. They qualified after finishing sixth in the 2012 Sevens Women Grand Prix Series. The team was captained by Claire Molloy and they reached the quarter-finals, finishing seventh overall.[6][10][11]

The Ireland women's sevens team and the Ireland women's national rugby union team has often used the same set of players. For example, the 2018 Women's Six Nations Championship squad included nine rugby sevens internationals.[12] This has occasionally led to conflicts of interest. In February 2017 Sene Naoupu, Alison Miller and Hannah Tyrrell were controversially withdrawn from Ireland's 2017 Women's Six Nations Championship squad in order to represent the Ireland Sevens in the 2017 USA Women's Sevens. The reasoning behind this decision was that the Ireland Sevens were chasing a top eight finish in the 2016–17 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series in order to qualify for the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens.[2][3] Ireland eventually finished ninth in the Series but subsequently qualified for the World Cup after finishing third in the 2017 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Grand Prix Series.[6]

Rugby World Cup Sevens
Year Round Position Pld W L D
2009 Did Not Qualify
2013 Plate Semifinalists 7th 5 2 3 0
2018 6th4220
Total0 Titles1/25230

Rugby Europe Women's Sevens

Ireland first competed in the Rugby Europe Women's Sevens in 2006. Their best performances in the tournament were in 2016 and 2017 when they finished third on both occasions.[6][13]

Olympics

In their attempt to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics, Ireland competed in a series of qualifying tournaments including the 2015 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Championships, the 2015 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Olympic Repechage Tournament and the 2016 Rugby World Women's Sevens Olympic Repechage Tournament. However they were unsuccessful in their bid to qualify.[14][15][16]

Current squad
2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens squad

Head coach: Anthony Eddy

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Union / Club
1 FW Audrey O'Flynn (1987-02-20)February 20, 1987 (aged 31) IRFU
2 BK Hannah Tyrrell (1990-08-10)August 10, 1990 (aged 27) Old Belvedere
3 BK Stacey Flood (1996-08-05)August 5, 1996 (aged 21) Railway Union
4 FW Kathy Baker (1994-07-06)July 6, 1994 (aged 24) Blackrock
5 BK Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe (1995-04-26)April 26, 1995 (aged 23) Railway Union
6 FW Ashleigh Baxter (1991-12-21)December 21, 1991 (aged 26) Cooke
7 FW Katie Fitzhenry (1989-04-23)April 23, 1989 (aged 29) Blackrock
8 BK Aoife Doyle (1995-06-02)June 2, 1995 (aged 23) Shannon
9 BK Lucy Mulhall (c) (1993-09-29)September 29, 1993 (aged 24) Rathdrum
10 BK Eve Higgins (1999-06-23)June 23, 1999 (aged 19) Railway Union
11 BK Louise Galvin (1987-04-03)April 3, 1987 (aged 31) UL Bohemians
12 FW Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird (1995-09-22)September 22, 1995 (aged 22) UL Bohemians
13 FW Claire Boles (1998-05-28)May 28, 1998 (aged 20) Railway Union

Source:[17]

Honours
Challenge Trophies
Plates
Bowls
Notes

See also

References
  1. "Ireland Women Sevens". thefrontrowunion.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  2. "IRFU to pull three key Ireland players from Six Nations to go on 7s duty". www.the42.ie. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  3. "IRFU defend decision to pull key women's players from Six Nations clash". www.irishtimes.com. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  4. "Mulhall: It's Going To Be A Big Year For Us". www.irishrugby.ie. 23 August 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  5. "Ireland And Japan Qualify For Women's Sevens Series". www.irishrugby.ie. 23 August 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  6. "Ireland Women's Sevens Qualify For World Cup". munsterrugby.ie. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  7. "Naoupu stars as Ireland Women claim Sevens Trophy". www.independent.ie. 24 April 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  8. "Ireland Women storm back from 12 - 0 down to win Dubai 7s Challenge Trophy". www.the42.ie. 2 December 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  9. "Ireland Women Bounce Back In Dubai To Win Challenge Trophy". www.irishrugby.ie. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  10. "Claire Molloy Confirmed As Ireland Women's World Cup Captain". www.irishrugby.ie. 2 August 2017. Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  11. "Ireland Women's Rugby Sevens". olympics.ie. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  12. "Ireland Women's Squad Announced For 2018 Six Nations". www.irishrugby.ie. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  13. "Ireland Women Finish Third Overall In European Sevens". www.irishrugby.ie. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  14. "Wicklow footballer Mulhall captains Ireland Women 7s squad on Olympic quest". uk.sports.yahoo.com. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  15. "Ireland 7s Teams qualify for Olympic Repechage". www.ulsterrugby.com. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  16. "Ireland keep Rio dream alive on two fronts". www.worldrugby.org. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  17. "Eddy Confirms Ireland Women's Sevens Squad For World Cup". www.irishrugby.ie. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  18. "Plate Success For Ireland Women In Brive". www.irishrugby.ie. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
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