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An emotional Greg O'Shea embraces a teammate after Ireland's Sevens win against Hong Kong. World Rugby Sevens Twitter

Ireland romp to final victory over hosts at Hong Kong Rugby 7s

The win means Ireland have been promoted to the elite level of the game for 2020.

IRELAND HAVE BEEN elevated to the elite level of Rugby Sevens following a 28-7 win over the hosts at this morning’s Hong Kong Sevens. 

It’s effectively a promotion for Ireland: the win means they will be a core team in the World Rugby Sevens Series from 2020, where they will compete against the best teams in the world. 

Ireland progressed to today’s final with a 19-10 win against Germany in the early hours of this morning, and flew out of the traps with a third-minute try by Harry McNulty. 

They doubled their lead to 14-0 just before the break when Greg O’Shea crossed. 

The quicksilver Jordon Conroy then capped his fine tournament with a third try immediately after the restart.

 

Tom McQueen crossed for Hong Kong with 90 seconds to go while Ireland had lost O’Shea to a yellow card, but any possible nerves were immediately assuaged with a riposte try from Terry Kennedy.

Irish captain Billy Dardis reflected on the achievement at full-time.

“We’re just delighted with this. The last 24 months have been a long, hard road. To finally do it…we all just stood on the pitch and couldn’t move. We’re just speechless. It’s class, it’s class.”

Before making the step-up to the world series for 2020, their attention switches to the qualifiers for the Olympic Games later this year. 

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Author
Gavin Cooney
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