Irish Rugby and Sevens

The Lost Sheep · 03-06-2018 7:11pm

TheAnalyst_ wrote: »

Honestly one of the greatest results in Irish rugby history. To be ranked 21st in the world and you might say justifiably as they didn't qualify for the series. To go from nothing to finishing third against England in England.
One thing that surprised me was how easy they found it to score. Once they got the ball in hands for a phase or two they had no problem scoring against any team including Fiji.

I had a worry that even with the funding that Ireland just wouldn't be cut out for sevens due to the nature of players we have but thats definitely not the case.

Great to see improvement. Why did you think our players wouldnt be cut out for 7s?

Squidgy Black wrote: »

As the game grows and Ireland start putting in more performances, a lot of younger players will start to see it as a viable option to be able to play professional rugby, and be successful at it.

The hope would be to see players coming towards the end of the academy process and choosing 7s as a route to professional rugby and even players on development contracts and so forth.

As for getting XV players involved, I'm not sure if the IRFU will invest in that past academy players and A team players. 7s tournaments generally involve a lot of travel and it's high intensity stuff, the player management schemes would probably go into meltdown at the thoughts of it. And there isn't much room in the Irish rugby schedule between the Pro14, champions cup and the international windows to allow for it.

We need to have more opportunities for people to play 7s. There is relatively few tournaments played country wide and that needs to change. That would allow more from outside of the pro set ups get involved.

connachta wrote: »

If we want to qualify for 2020 Olympics we have to inject one or two XV players like N-Z did with SBW

I know for example a guy named Larmour who has perfect speed and hands to play a bit of 7's in qualifying tournaments...

Not necessarily. Larmour might be good at 7s but 7s really is specialist game at this level and Larmour will be heavily in other set up and better to stay in 15s

ArmchairQB · 03-06-2018 8:34pm

connachta wrote: »

If we want to qualify for 2020 Olympics we have to inject one or two XV players like N-Z did with SBW

I know for example a guy named Larmour who has perfect speed and hands to play a bit of 7's in qualifying tournaments...

7’s is very much a development league for those not making the grade at 15s in the provinces. It will be up and coming players and others just short of making it at 15s level. You won’t see established and fully contracted players stepping down to 7s anytime soon

shotgunmcos · 03-06-2018 9:14pm

If only we had Conroy at Hong Kong! Joint top try scorer with Norton, Injira and Carlin Isles WOW

Have an invitational side ever medalled at a Cup? Huge result by the squad and delighted for them. McNulty nicely summed up the spirit in the camp in his smiley interview. 2x top 6 scalps to get that medal and 2 tries against Fiji is invaluable experience ahead of the WC. Hopefully they cash back up that performance and get into the cup half of the draw next week in Paris. The pools at the moment look like a copy and paste of London.

connachta · 03-06-2018 9:29pm

ArmchairQB wrote: »

connachta wrote: »

If we want to qualify for 2020 Olympics we have to inject one or two XV players like N-Z did with SBW

I know for example a guy named Larmour who has perfect speed and hands to play a bit of 7's in qualifying tournaments...

7’s is very much a development league for those not making the grade at 15s in the provinces. It will be up and coming players and others just short of making it at 15s level. You won’t see established and fully contracted players stepping down to 7s anytime soon

Olympics medal matters so little for IRFU/Irish government/people?

Kiwi_knock · 03-06-2018 9:39pm

Conroy and Roche both feature in the Dream Team, great achievement for the both of them.

https://twitter.com/WorldRugby7s/status/1003332851817959425

TheAnalyst_ · 03-06-2018 9:45pm

Standings table

https://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series/standings/mens

Ireland have more points than the five other invitational teams have combined. That’s 8 tournaments between them.

Faugheen · 03-06-2018 11:00pm

They're playing the Paris 7s as well. Another quarter final at least would be brilliant going!

foxyladyxx · 04-06-2018 10:43am

Great watch . That guy Jordan Conroy is unbelievable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1rxVeJocDA

Squatter · 04-06-2018 10:55am

shotgunmcos wrote: »

2 x top 6 scalps to get that medal and 2 tries against Fiji is invaluable experience ahead of the WC.

And those 2 tries could well (and arguably should) have been 4, except for a couple of bits of poor handling.

thomond2006 · 04-06-2018 11:06am

foxyladyxx wrote: »

Great watch . That guy Jordan Conroy is unbelievable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1rxVeJocDA

Buccaneers man I see. Connacht should sign him up!

connachta · 04-06-2018 11:51am

thomond2006 wrote: »

foxyladyxx wrote: »

Great watch . That guy Jordan Conroy is unbelievable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1rxVeJocDA

Buccaneers man I see. Connacht should sign him up!

He was in the Academy this season

The Lost Sheep · 04-06-2018 12:06pm

thomond2006 wrote: »

Buccaneers man I see. Connacht should sign him up!

He's from Tullamore and moved on to Buccs to play higher level of rugby
He was added to Connachts academy at start of last season

foxyladyxx · 04-06-2018 12:26pm

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

He's from Tullamore and moved on to Buccs to play higher level of rugby
He was added to Connachts academy at start of last season

Leinster need to get a move on :cool:

Buer · 04-06-2018 3:06pm

foxyladyxx wrote: »

Leinster need to get a move on :cool:

He's 24 already. I don't see him making a significant career out of the full version. He's ideal for Sevens though.

prawnsambo · 04-06-2018 4:18pm

Buer wrote: »

He's 24 already. I don't see him making a significant career out of the full version. He's ideal for Sevens though.

Yeah. Connacht would have snapped him up already if he was a viable option for fifteens.

Faugheen · 04-06-2018 4:21pm

He'll be our Carlin Isles and Dan Norton. I can't see him being anymore than that at the moment.

CIARAN_BOYLE · 04-06-2018 9:15pm

Buer wrote: »

He's 24 already. I don't see him making a significant career out of the full version. He's ideal for Sevens though.

I suppose though its good for attracting people into the academys if theres an alternate rugby career path for players that dont make the grade for the provinces.

That said look at barry daly. Wasnt he 24 when he came back to the leinster set up after some time as a 7s international.

The Lost Sheep · 04-06-2018 9:45pm

ArmchairQB wrote: »

7’s is very much a development league for those not making the grade at 15s in the provinces. It will be up and coming players and others just short of making it at 15s level. You won’t see established and fully contracted players stepping down to 7s anytime soon

It is for now. If we were to go play on world series and stay there it could change.

prawnsambo wrote: »

Yeah. Connacht would have snapped him up already if he was a viable option for fifteens.

They have him snapped up. Just not used him yet.

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I suppose though its good for attracting people into the academys if theres an alternate rugby career path for players that dont make the grade for the provinces.

That said look at barry daly. Wasnt he 24 when he came back to the leinster set up after some time as a 7s international.

Possibly could see guys added to academies but if provinces see guys future is in 7s early enough they wont add him to academy and there could be other set ups for 7s players

Thud · 05-06-2018 8:57am

You still think they should have invited some lower tier nation to develop the game/get thumped?

kingofthekong · 05-06-2018 9:47am

Wouldve loved to see Niyi Adeolukun play in the London 7s, similar to Tuisova and Radradra he was playing on the Barbarians a week earlier and hes not selected for the Australian tour...
Having another pace man of the calibre of Niyi would be awesome for that 7s team

irishbucsfan · 05-06-2018 10:22am

When was the last time Niyi played 7s?

I know he's played before, but the time I'm aware of was a long time ago and was fairly low standard

Squidgy Black · 05-06-2018 10:56am

People don't realise that 7s is a whole different skillset and game plan to XV rugby, just cause someone is fast doesn't mean they'll be any use at 7s.

Chico Flores · 05-06-2018 10:58am

On Niyi - while of course the pace would be a major asset, I don't think it is possible to just switch between the 7s and 15s. The Fijians are obviously an exception as they grow up playing it but bar a one off it does seem you need to be conditioned (mentally and physically obvioulsy) to it.

Willing to go backwards before going forwards etc

You would think the likes of a Niyi, Conor Oliver, Timoney (think he played a bit), Adam Byrne etc would be fantastic at it.

irishbucsfan · 05-06-2018 11:12am

Adam Byrne was on the side that narrowly missed Olympic qualification

connemara man · 05-06-2018 11:21am

from the current Ireland 31 in Australia who would make a good 7's team?

Pudsy33 · 05-06-2018 11:27am

connemara man wrote: »

from the current Ireland 31 in Australia who would make a good 7's team?

Leavy Cronin Murphy

Murray Carberry

Ringrose Larmour

The Lost Sheep · 05-06-2018 11:31am

Thud wrote: »

You still think they should have invited some lower tier nation to develop the game/get thumped?

Yes. Delighted we won. And who said another nation would have been "thumped"??

connemara man wrote: »

from the current Ireland 31 in Australia who would make a good 7's team?

Marmion, Carbery, Earls, Larmour
Conway, Leavy, Murphy

Faugheen · 05-06-2018 11:37am

connemara man wrote: »

from the current Ireland 31 in Australia who would make a good 7's team?

Beirne, Cronin, Murphy
Marmion, Carbery, Ringrose, Larmour.

Thud · 05-06-2018 11:38am

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Yes. Delighted we won. And who said another nation would have been "thumped"??

Pretty much every weaker nation that's been invited finished last or second last (Japan only exception in 2015):
https://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series/standings/mens

arsebiscuits1 · 05-06-2018 11:48am

Thoughts from the weekend. What a fantastic achievement. We were very much there to make up numbers and came 3rd.

I watched most of the games on offer and what I noticed is the skillset of the lads is very much up to standard. The passing, offloading, pace, defence and set piece is right up there.

It does show the issue with the qualification stages to get to the World Series. We narrowly lose to Japan and as a result, can't qualify. Our skillset clearly shows that over a year in a points ranking system, we would breeze our way into the World Series. Sevens is a cruel game. Any team can be beaten over the course of 14 minutes. It's the beauty of it. But it's a poor barometer for a season of effort.

I was impressed with Roche as a play maker and he could hit his restarts through a basketball hoop they were so accurate.

I'm not sure whether it was fitness or he is just a poor tackler but against Fiji and England he missed some poor tackles.

A note on Conroy. Isles has the fastest recorded speed on the 7s circuit with 37kp/h. Conroy topped out at 36... absolutely incredible.

While Conroy is getting most of the headlines and deservedly so. Praise must be heaped on his teammates. McNulty is a truly great sevens enforcer and so much of our game depends on claiming restarts and lineouts, of while he is very proficient.

Kennedy and Fitzpatrick also had impressive tournaments and by god they can run! Great work rate shown.

A word for Billy Dardis who despite being captain, saw very little game time. I wonder if he is being kept fresh for this weekend or is there just no place for him in the starting 7

Irish Rugby and Sevens

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