Ireland Sevens team pick up silver in first final appearance

Ireland's first-ever appearance in a men’s sevens final ended in disappointment as they lost out to Fiji 29-17, a result that secured the silver medal in Toulouse.

Ireland had come close to a final spot at the Singapore Sevens in April but Nez Zealand finished strongly to deny them. James Topping’s side had earned their first-ever win over Fiji at that tournament, but they couldn’t repeat the trick in France.

Ireland had knocked out the hosts 24-7 in the semi-final to secure a final spot at the Stade Ernest Wallon. Terry Kennedy got over twice and efforts from Mark Roche Andrew Smith secured a comfortable win.

Ireland started the final in good fashion with Kennedy, along with Jordan Conroy, touching down to give them a 12-7 lead.

Fiji responded strongly though to take control with Conroy grabbing Ireland’s third try late on.

It was Ireland’s first medal as a core team on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and included wins over the world’s top two ranked teams, South Africa and Argentina.

Topping’s team compete at the London Sevens next weekend, the penultimate leg, returning to Twickenham Stadium where they won bronze in 2018 as an invitational team.

The women’s team secured a fourth-place finish overall in the series despite closing out the France leg with two defeats.

Any chances of medal were ended by a 26-10 bronze final defeat to Fiji, and it was the same side who pipped them to third in the overall standings.

Before that, Ireland had lost the cup semi-final 40-7 to Australia, but their results were still good enough for fourth overall, four places higher than their previous best finish, eighth in in 2018/19.