Ireland defeat France to book semi-final spot

The Ireland women's sevens team have booked a Sunday semi-final with New Zealand after a 12-10 quarter-final win over France.

Wins over Spain and South Africa on Friday meant that Saturday’s heavy 29-0 group loss to Australia wasn’t fatal to their play-off hopes in Cape Town.

It did leave them with a tricky assignment against France but the first half went perfectly as Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe dotted down in the second minute and Beibhinn Parsons added a second, converted by captain Lucy Mulhall, to give Ireland a 12-0 lead at the break.

France responded well in the second half with tries from Camille Grassineau and Alycia Christiaens were able to hold on.

They will face New Zealand in the semi-final at 9.24am Irish time.

The Irish men’s team saw their medal chase end in the group stage as they lost 22-19 to Uruguay before recovering to defeat Samoa 21-14.

They’ll face Kenya in a 9th-16th place play-off on Sunday at 7.56am.