Ireland sevens lose ground in Olympics race

Ireland's men’s sevens fell further behind in their bid to automatically qualify for the Olympic Games following a disappointing showing in Singapore over the weekend.

Pool defeats to Argentina, Great Britain and Japan were followed up by play-off defeats to South Africa and the USA.

Coming into the weekend, James Topping’s side were eighth in the World Series standings with four team guaranteed qualification for France.

They have dropped to ninth following the third-last round of games, 20 points behind fifth-placed Australia.

They are four places up for grabs, however, France, who qualify as hosts, currently occupy fourth place.

Regional qualification tournaments awaits the Irish side if they fail to claim the necessary points in the final two legs of the series, in Toulouse and London next month.