BILLY DARDIS ACCEPTS that the Ireland Sevens Men’s team need to deliver results worthy of their new world-class facilities in Abbotstown.
Both the men’s and women’s team team recently moved into the IRFU’s new High Performance Centre at the National Sports Campus, the perfect setting for the men’s team to prepare for their debut as a core team on the HSBC World Rugby Men’s Sevens Series in Dubai next week.
Having played as an invitational team before, Ireland are now there on merit, and Dardis, who captains the 13-man squad, admits that the team need to back up the investment as they chase qualification for the 2020 Olympic Games.
“It is a high-performance environment. It is class. I have brought a few people in here and they say how energising the whole thing is, how motivating it all is,” Dardis says.
“Everyone is so ambitious and motivated and driven. People feed off it. It is an incredible facility. I haven’t got used to it yet. We’re spoiled, completely spoiled. It has given us every support and opportunity to succeed.
“It is all up to us now to perform.”
Ireland qualified for the event in Hong Kong last April, and will play the United States, Australia and Scotland in Dubai. From Dubai they head straight to another tournament in Cape Town as they begin a season that will take them to most pockets of the globe.
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Yet for now the focus is short term as they begin their charge to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“We don’t want to finish last in the series,” Dardis explains.
“We want to stay up. If you finish last, you get relegated and you have to go back to Hong Kong to the qualifier again. We have set pretty high standards and we have high expectations of ourselves. We have goals, wanting to hit certain markers in different tournaments.
Dardis in action for Ireland earlier this year. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
“We go to Dubai next week, we play Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We fly on a Sunday down to Cape Town, play the following Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
“We have Christmas off and fly to Hamilton in New Zealand at the end of January, from there to Sydney the following week, home for three weeks.
“Then, we go to LA and Vancouver, home for a few weeks, Hong Kong, Singapore, home for a few weeks, London, Paris. It was a good ticket to win last April!
“Then we will have the Olympic qualifier in June. Whoever wins that tournament goes to the Olympics.”
Dardis has been involved with the team since the dormant Men’s Sevens programme was taken off the shelf in 2015. Having come through the Leinster Academy, he earned a professional contract but made no appearances for the province in his sole season fully professional. If that was tough to take, imagine his pain when he wasn’t offered a new contract.
Yet Dardis, 24, has flourished since committing to sevens, and is now captaining his country ahead of an exciting period for the sport in Ireland. Some use sevens as a platform to get back into the 15s game, but Dardis is happy with his lot. For now at least.
“In general, it really depends on the personnel. For some young guys, it can be a springboard. They can come into this for a year and jump back into 15s. It can be brilliant for that,” he explains.
“For some of the older guys, not that they don’t have that many years left in the tank, it is not a long-term career. It can be something great to do while you’re young.
“For me, personally, I am doing a Masters out in Smurfit and I am balancing the two for two years. I’m not really looking too far past this year. I would really love to get back into the 15s.
“At the moment, I am enjoying 7s and I can’t wait to get out to Dubai.”
Bernard Jackman and Murray Kinsella join Gavan Casey to discuss eye-gouging, Munster’s scrum-half situation, and the rest of the provincial news.
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'It is all up to us now to perform' - Dardis
BILLY DARDIS ACCEPTS that the Ireland Sevens Men’s team need to deliver results worthy of their new world-class facilities in Abbotstown.
Both the men’s and women’s team team recently moved into the IRFU’s new High Performance Centre at the National Sports Campus, the perfect setting for the men’s team to prepare for their debut as a core team on the HSBC World Rugby Men’s Sevens Series in Dubai next week.
Having played as an invitational team before, Ireland are now there on merit, and Dardis, who captains the 13-man squad, admits that the team need to back up the investment as they chase qualification for the 2020 Olympic Games.
“It is a high-performance environment. It is class. I have brought a few people in here and they say how energising the whole thing is, how motivating it all is,” Dardis says.
“Everyone is so ambitious and motivated and driven. People feed off it. It is an incredible facility. I haven’t got used to it yet. We’re spoiled, completely spoiled. It has given us every support and opportunity to succeed.
“It is all up to us now to perform.”
Ireland qualified for the event in Hong Kong last April, and will play the United States, Australia and Scotland in Dubai. From Dubai they head straight to another tournament in Cape Town as they begin a season that will take them to most pockets of the globe.
Yet for now the focus is short term as they begin their charge to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“We don’t want to finish last in the series,” Dardis explains.
“We want to stay up. If you finish last, you get relegated and you have to go back to Hong Kong to the qualifier again. We have set pretty high standards and we have high expectations of ourselves. We have goals, wanting to hit certain markers in different tournaments.
“We go to Dubai next week, we play Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We fly on a Sunday down to Cape Town, play the following Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
“We have Christmas off and fly to Hamilton in New Zealand at the end of January, from there to Sydney the following week, home for three weeks.
“Then, we go to LA and Vancouver, home for a few weeks, Hong Kong, Singapore, home for a few weeks, London, Paris. It was a good ticket to win last April!
“Then we will have the Olympic qualifier in June. Whoever wins that tournament goes to the Olympics.”
Dardis has been involved with the team since the dormant Men’s Sevens programme was taken off the shelf in 2015. Having come through the Leinster Academy, he earned a professional contract but made no appearances for the province in his sole season fully professional. If that was tough to take, imagine his pain when he wasn’t offered a new contract.
Yet Dardis, 24, has flourished since committing to sevens, and is now captaining his country ahead of an exciting period for the sport in Ireland. Some use sevens as a platform to get back into the 15s game, but Dardis is happy with his lot. For now at least.
“In general, it really depends on the personnel. For some young guys, it can be a springboard. They can come into this for a year and jump back into 15s. It can be brilliant for that,” he explains.
“For some of the older guys, not that they don’t have that many years left in the tank, it is not a long-term career. It can be something great to do while you’re young.
“For me, personally, I am doing a Masters out in Smurfit and I am balancing the two for two years. I’m not really looking too far past this year. I would really love to get back into the 15s.
“At the moment, I am enjoying 7s and I can’t wait to get out to Dubai.”
Bernard Jackman and Murray Kinsella join Gavan Casey to discuss eye-gouging, Munster’s scrum-half situation, and the rest of the provincial news.
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
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