THE IRFU ARE set to turn to the provinces in a bid to boost the Ireland Men’s Sevens squads’ chances of Olympic glory next summer.

Performance director David Nucifora today confirmed the Union has reached an agreement with the provinces to select one contracted player from each province to join the Men’s Sevens squad and compete at the Paris Games.

The IRFU will likely turn to players who already have Sevens experience. Ulster wing Rob Balaoucone, Munster’s Shane Daly, Connacht’s Andrew Smith and Leinster pair Hugo Keenan and Will Connors are some of the names who could come into the mix.

“We’ve reached an agreement with the provinces that we will have the ability to select one contracted player from each province for the Olympics,” Nucifora explained.

“That will be done in agreement with the player. More than likely that player will be a player that has come through the Sevens programme at some stage, so they’re familiar with the game, and it will also be a fact that we’ll work with the province and the player and look to integrate that player, or players, in the backend of this season to be able to see where they fit and whether they can earn their selection in the Olympic squad, which will probably be named in late June/early July.

IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO

“The (Sevens) squad at the moment is already very strong, for those of you who saw the performance at the weekend down in Cape Town, the men beat New Zealand for the first time and lost the bronze medal match against Fiji. So already they are there or thereabouts and have a very strong squad.

“So any players we look to bring in will have to be people that we think can add value significantly to the current squad.”

Nucifora added that any players selected to join the Sevens squad would still be available to line out for Ireland in the Six Nations. France star Antoine Dupont is set to miss this year’s tournament as he prepares to represent his country in Sevens at the Paris Games.

“They’d still certainly be playing the Six Nations if they were selected. The lead-in time would look at how it affects and works in with their provincial requirements at the moment so it might be that a player might come and play a tournament, one of the World Series tournaments prior to the end and then go back into provincial rugby, then come back again. It will just be a management scenario of how we look at each player and each provincial team, how we might do that.

“Then we’ll make a decision on how many of those eligible players, we’re looking at a maximum of four, we might take none, we might take four. I suppose that’s something we’ve just got to work out, who can add value to the group, helping us towards winning an Olympic gold medal.”

Nucifora was glowing in his praise of Andy Farrell after confirming a new contract for the Ireland head coach, but had less to say on the current state of the women’s game.

The Ireland women’s 15s team endured another difficult season in 2023, finishing bottom of the Six Nations table before winning the inaugural WXV 3 competition.

“The Women’s XV, a bit of a rebuild for us this year with Scott Bemand coming on board for the World Cup, managing to win the WXV 3 competition. It’s a launchpad for where we get to in the Six Nations for the Women’s XVs.”

In 2018, the IRFU’s Women in Rugby Action Plan stated a target of having 5,000 senior female adult players in Ireland by 2023. This morning, Nucifora was asked for an update on those figures.

“I’d have to ring the head of community rugby,” Nucifora replied. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you what that number is at the moment. I know it’s growing but I couldn’t tell you at what pace.”

Nucifora was then asked about the stated target of having 300 coaches working in women’s rugby.

“Once again, that’s an area for community rugby. They’re working on that space all the time, so it’s not something that I’d have my hands on at short notice.”