IRELAND SEVENS AT OLYMPICS
Ireland Mens Sevens squad will surely have regrets that they did not fulfil their potential or realise their ambitions at the Olympic Games in Paris. Having comfortably won their opening two games with Jordan Conroy scoring their very first try, Ireland let New Zealand off the hook in their final pool match. They went down to a final move try but, unfathomably, did not opt to kick a penalty from straight in front of the posts at a stage when they were leading by 5 points. The “gimme” placekick would have moved them 2 scores ahead of the All Blacks.
Then holders Fiji came from behind to win their quarter-final clash but their match-winning try seemed to benefit from a knock-on that, surprisingly, went unchecked. Ireland looked as good as any of the other nations apart from poor conversion attempts.
Meanwhile, Beibhinn Parsons and the Womens squad’s bid for glory ended in being blitzed by Australia in their quarter-final. After running the red hot Aussies close in their pool game, Ireland’s inability to deal with restarts saw them eliminated in a disappointing manner.
