IRELAND HAVE NAMED a 27-man Sevens squad for the upcoming summer tournaments that could result in an Olympic place.
The squad is largely made up of academy and club players who have already stood out in the Ulster Bank League, with five Exiles products also making the cut.
Ireland’s Sevens odyssey will begin when a Wolfhounds team represents Ireland in the GB 7s series, which starts on 30 May in Edinburgh with dates also set for Coventry and Colwyn Bay in June.
The Ireland Sevens proper will begin their bid for Olympic qualification in Rugby Europe division C tournament in Bosnia and Herzogovina on 6 June. There they will face Turkey, Belarus and Montenegro in pool B. This tournament’s top four teams will win promotion to Division B, which will play out in Croatia on 20 June.
The highest ranked team from that stage will then move on to a Rugby Europe Olympic tournament. That event based in Lisbon on 18 July will award an Olympic place to the winner, with the runner-up sent to compete for the final place in Rio at the World Olympic repechage.
Ireland Sevens squad.
Cian Aherne (Lansdowne /Leinster)
Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/ Leinster)
Alan Bennie (Clanwilliam /Munster)
Adam Byrne (UCD/Leinster)
Aaron Cairns (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Tom Daly (Lansdowne/ Leinster)
Matthew D’Arcy (St. Marys/Leinster)
Ian Fitzpatrick (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Dan Goggin (Young Munster/Munster)
Eoghan Grace (Exiles)
Foster Horan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Alex Kane (Exiles)
Terry Kennedy (St Mary’s/ Leinster)
Michael Lawton (Exiles)
Shane Layden (Buccaneers/ Connacht)
Gearoid Lyons (Young Munster/ Munster)
Diarmuid McCarthy (Young Munster/Munster)
David McGuigan (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Harry McNulty (UCD/Leinster)
Dave Moore (Blackrock /Leinster)
Luke O’Dea (Shannon/ Munster)
Matthew O’Regan (Exiles)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne/ Leinster)
Steve Toal-Lennon (St Marys/ Leinster)
Conor Toolan (St Marys/ Leinster)
Ciaran Wardle (Exiles)
Alex Wootton (Garryowen/Munster)
Fingers have never been more crossed for RG.
He’s had more than enough bad luck. Time for him to show what he can do. #SUAF
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: Agreed but starting his return on an artificial pitch mightn’t be the smartest move.
@TL55: 100%.
Be mad to test him out there.
Leave it till thomand or any other turf pitch.
That 4g is hard on knees.
@Paddy Waggon: agree… the last 20/25 mins in Limerick as a reintroduction…. A sixth spot for Munster in the URC prior to plays is exactly where they want to be…
Sixth secures HC for next year… but equally important if we finish fifth in the URC we will have to travel to play the team who finished second … guess who another trip to SA for to face the Stormers…. We already have 2 remaining fixtures in SA in the URC run of games and we have the game in the HC (Sharks) … so sixth is our best position …. I’d be more than happy with that and lifting a trophy with Synman. How bad
@Denis O Sullivan: oh by the way sixth in the URC would mean we would have to travel North to play Ulster as the table stands today. Better than going to SA to face Stormers or worse again if the Bulls finish third….
Good luck RG.
No one deserves the bad luck you’ve had.
If the Insta clips are to be believed Ahearn is training with the team, same for Okeke, is anyone signed up for the ‘extra content’ thing? looks to be cameras with them all the time now.