IRELAND CONTINUED THEIR encouraging preparations for next month’s Rugby World Cup Sevens by clinching the bronze medal at the Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series tournament in Marcoussis last night.
Anthony Eddy’s side rebounded from their semi-final defeat to hosts and eventual champions France with a record-breaking 39-7 win over England in the bronze medal final.
It was Ireland’s biggest-ever winning margin against England in both sevens and 15s rugby, with a number of players producing standout performances across the course of the six games.
In scoring 35 tries during the tournament, Ireland again showed their promise heading into the World Cup in San Francisco, where they will meet England in their opening fixture at AT&T Park on Friday 20 July.
Ireland coasted through the Pool stages on Friday, defeating Scotland, Poland and Wales in emphatic fashion, before continuing their excellent form with a big quarter-final win over Wales.
Eddy’s charges were, however, stopped in their tracks by a powerful French side in the last four tie, but rallied to end the weekend on a high with a confidence-boosting win over England.
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https://www.rugbyeurope.eu/live-rugby-europe-mens-womens-7s-grand-prix-series-2018-marcoussis
Link if you want to watch it
Do teams like England and France actually care about this competition or is it just for small teams??
@buck turgidson: Both events are Rugby Europe Grand Prix. The world series for both men and women had a double header in paris 3 weeks ago
@Bob Joe: for the Rugby Europe Grand Prix England and France send development sides, as their main teams participate in the HSBC World Series in both Men’s & Womens. The world series is finished for this season, the Paris event (the weekend after Ireland Men’s recently won bronze at Twickenham as an invitational side) was the last Round. But you may see one or two players from the World Series squads beef up both for final rounds of the Grand Prix England added experienced at least two (Olly Lindsay-Hauge & Richard deCarpentier) to their squad last weekend. The success at Grand Prix level is great, but World Series is another level altogether and we don’t have the depth (yet…) if we lose a couple of our best players….
Please stop comparing rugby to this gimmick.
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: there are very obvious comparisons to make though, Cormac.