'Gruesome to play, incredible to watch' - Stacey Flood hopes Olympic platform can boost Sevens

Stacey Flood hopes that Ireland women's Seven debut at the Olympic Games can resonate with the public and boost the game in the country.

A veteran of the team, Flood helped Ireland to qualify for the Games for the first time having seen two previous opportunities slip away.

With the World Series taking place across eight different venues around the globe and mostly only available to view online, the sport is largely hidden from the view of the casual fan.

Between the men’s and women’s sides, 24 of the more than 130-strong Team Ireland travelling party will be in Paris at the end of this month going for rugby Sevens gold.

The women’s tournament, where Ireland face Australia, Great Britain and South Africa in Pool B, takes place from 28-30 July at the Stade de France.

"We need to get the country behind Sevens a bit more and hopefully the Olympics does that for us," the 27-year-old told RTÉ Sport.

"It is a very hard sport to find to watch because it’s on in different times zones, it’s on rugbypass [TV] . Hopefully this gives it the platform to start growing in our country.

"It is an incredible sport to watch, it’s gruesome to play but it’s so incredible to watch.

"The Irish fans would love it because it’s an outdoor party all day and you have an incredible sport to watch. It’s like a festival vibe.

"It’s so intense and it’s all those X factor moments from 15s put on to the rugby field, it’s short and sharp."

Flood represented the Dublin minor football team and has also played 15s for Ireland.

A win on the World Series in Perth last January has given the team belief that a podium finish is possible, however, they are reluctant to look too far ahead.

Currently training in Tours, France, the same base where Andy Farrell’s Ireland side