Ireland 7s route to Rio

Can anyone briefly explain why Ireland being an established Rugby nation is having to play against below par nations to qualify?.

In short is it because 7s is possibly organised by a separate organization and Ireland haven't competed so must start at the bottom?.

Also how many countries are participating in the games?.
I know the landscape of 7s is slightly different but by and large it's just the same counties ranked differently minus Ireland.
Surely if say 16 qualified then between the NH and SH all the Union big dogs countries should have been given clear paths to qualifying to keep it competitive.

ArmaniJeanss

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Also how many countries are participating in the games?.
I know the landscape of 7s is slightly different but by and large it's just the same counties ranked differently minus Ireland.
Surely if say 16 qualified then between the NH and SH all the Union big dogs countries should have been given clear paths to qualifying to keep it competitive.

For the Olympics its 11 qualifiers plus Brazil. Top 4 in the world, then 1 from a qualifying comp per continent, then a repechege for the final spot.

Re your other point, theres absolutely no reason for Ireland to be fastracked to the top table (which is what I think you are implying) in 7s just because they are a top dog in 15s. In 7s we are not an established rugby nation - we are a beginner minnow.

.ak

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Can anyone briefly explain why Ireland being an established Rugby nation is having to play against below par nations to qualify?.

In short is it because 7s is possibly organised by a separate organization and Ireland haven't competed so must start at the bottom?.

Also how many countries are participating in the games?.
I know the landscape of 7s is slightly different but by and large it's just the same counties ranked differently minus Ireland.
Surely if say 16 qualified then between the NH and SH all the Union big dogs countries should have been given clear paths to qualifying to keep it competitive.

Well you know the 7s is a totally different sport to union? They shouldn't be linked on but judged on merit. Sure USA won the IRB 7s cup just there, and teams like Kenya and other 'minnow' nations regularly do well.

We could be absolutely ****e at this. I imagine we will be. The only experience in 7s these lads will have is playing the odd bit of touch rugby in training or going down to Kinsale for a pissup.

bradders90

gilberto_eire wrote: »

I know the landscape of 7s is slightly different but by and large it's just the same counties ranked differently minus Ireland.

Not really.
Sevens rankings (15s rankings)
Fiji 1 (12)
South Africa 2 (2)
New Zealand 3 (1)
England 4 (4)
Australia 5 (6)
USA 6 (16)
Scotland 7 (10)
Argentina 8 (8)
Canada 9 (17)
Samoa 10 (9)

Notable absentees being tonga, wales, france.
Plus sevens is far less predictable, even if you think NZ will smack Canada, they don't always do.

.ak

.ak wrote: »

Well you know the 7s is a totally different sport to union? They shouldn't be linked on but judged on merit. Sure USA won the IRB 7s cup just there, and teams like Kenya and other 'minnow' nations regularly do well.

We could be absolutely ****e at this. I imagine we will be. The only experience in 7s these lads will have is playing the odd bit of touch rugby in training or going down to Kinsale for a pissup.

would we not have a massive advantage at least in the division c and b games purely because our players will have grown up playing rugby to a relatively high level?

it may be a stupid but genuine question for anyone who knows there 7s as while iv watched the odd 7s tourney i dont know the intricacies at an international level. would skill learned playing the 15s game translate and be a huge advantage or does a lot of it just come down to pace and stamina?

errlloyd

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

We have no chance at being the European qualifier do we?

Well actually. Wales and Scotland can't qualify because England already have and great Britain only gets one of them... So we'd just have to be better than France, Russia, Italy, Portugal, Spain and a handful of others

Edit: Oh unless that is based on rankings for the world series, in which case we won't.

The Lost Sheep

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

We have no chance at being the European qualifier do we?

Not really

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Can anyone briefly explain why Ireland being an established Rugby nation is having to play against below par nations to qualify?.

In short is it because 7s is possibly organised by a separate organization and Ireland haven't competed so must start at the bottom?.

Also how many countries are participating in the games?.
I know the landscape of 7s is slightly different but by and large it's just the same counties ranked differently minus Ireland.
Surely if say 16 qualified then between the NH and SH all the Union big dogs countries should have been given clear paths to qualifying to keep it competitive.

We are nowhere near being an established rugby 7s nation and we have no real history of playing 7s. 7s is completely different game to 15s
It is far from the same countries competing minus Ireland. The countries that win and who are at the top are slightly different as well.
We are going to be much less competitive in Olympics if we were to make it than many so called "minnow" nations

Iker Repulsive Syntax wrote: »

would we not have a massive advantage at least in the division c and b games purely because our players will have grown up playing rugby to a relatively high level?

it may be a stupid but genuine question for anyone who knows there 7s as while iv watched the odd 7s tourney i dont know the intricacies at an international level. would skill learned playing the 15s game translate and be a huge advantage or does a lot of it just come down to pace and stamina?

We may have rugby playing and background over players from other countries but we could be coming up against 7s specialists which none of our players are. 15s at a relatively high level is very different to 7s.

Squidgy Black

Would Darragh Fanning not be an excellent choice given his experience playing 7s, and the fact most Leinster fans would be more than happy to see him be gone on international duty :pac:

Peregrine

_Tyrrell_ wrote: »

Would Darragh Fanning not be an excellent choice given his experience playing 7s, and the fact most Leinster fans would be more than happy to see him be gone on international duty :pac:

But Fanning is going to the World Cup

ArmchairQB

_Tyrrell_ wrote: »

Would Darragh Fanning not be an excellent choice given his experience playing 7s, and the fact most Leinster fans would be more than happy to see him be gone on international duty :pac:

He is on a professional contract, don't think any of these lads are on pro contracts no pay just expenses

padser

FrannoFan wrote: »

Ireland Sevens squad.

Adam Byrne (UCD/Leinster)

What does this mean for Adam Byrne at Leinster? Is he now committing to 7's ahead of Leinster? Will he be unavailable for Pro12 games because he will be off playing sevens?

I don't mind if this is the case, I'm just trying to understand the implications for 15s rugby

.ak

I'd sa he's just giving it a go and keeping his options open

The Lost Sheep

padser wrote: »

What does this mean for Adam Byrne at Leinster? Is he now committing to 7's ahead of Leinster? Will he be unavailable for Pro12 games because he will be off playing sevens?

I don't mind if this is the case, I'm just trying to understand the implications for 15s rugby

Who knows how we will do in sevens? He isn't committing to sevens ahead of Leinster as there may not be huge opportunities in sevens. He is still an academy member and will be playing AIL/A/pro12 as required

padser

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Who knows how we will do in sevens? He isn't committing to sevens ahead of Leinster as there may not be huge opportunities in sevens. He is still an academy member and will be playing AIL/A/pro12 as required

So that means he will quit sevens (or not play an event) if he is needed for a Leinster A game?

Are you sure on this or speculating? There must be an agreement on which will take priority

CIARAN_BOYLE

padser wrote: »

So that means he will quit sevens (or not play an event) if he is needed for a Leinster A game?

Are you sure on this or speculating? There must be an agreement on which will take priority

well the IRFU is hoping to compete in 7s events through June and July. I would imagine that no involved in this woild be available for their province in September.

Its important to note that we arent in the world series we are limited in the number of events so we necessarily need a full time 7s squad. That said I would expects 7s international duty to take precedance ofer Leinster A should the events clash.

padser

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

well the IRFU is hoping to compete in 7s events through June and July. I would imagine that no involved in this woild be available for their province in September.

Its important to note that we arent in the world series we are limited in the number of events so we necessarily need a full time 7s squad. That said I would expects 7s international duty to take precedance ofer Leinster A should the events clash.

Hmmm, interesting. Not sure what the point is of having a sevens team which only plays in June / July.

We will end up being sh1t at sevens if our players are playing sevens for just 2/3 months a year...

CIARAN_BOYLE

padser wrote: »

Hmmm, interesting. Not sure what the point is of having a sevens team which only plays in June / July.

We will end up being sh1t at sevens if our players are playing sevens for just 2/3 months a year...

Well thats when the European Sevens serieses are on isn't it? It will take time to qualify for the world series so we are stuck at June/July till then.

The Lost Sheep

padser wrote: »

So that means he will quit sevens (or not play an event) if he is needed for a Leinster A game?

Are you sure on this or speculating? There must be an agreement on which will take priority

We are at the bottom tier. We wont have games through season like the world series. Our 7s for now is in July/August for now.

Players involved now will likely be on same protocols as those who play summer tours.
I don't know, nobody does, whether there is any agreements in place but you would assume players involved in 7s are doing so as provinces feel players aren't needed for them but they probably do have the priority if they feel they may need them

padser

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Well thats when the European Sevens serieses are on isn't it? It will take time to qualify for the world series so we are stuck at June/July till then.

Absolutely. But I'm wondering what the long term plan is.

We will qualify for the World Series I'd guess in reasonably short order (2/3 yrs max) at which point the 15 and 7 man games will conflict for players involved in the sevens.

Given the length of time it's taken for is to set up a sevens team (it's been talked about for years) I refuse to believe the IRFU hasn't thought about how that conflict will be resolved.

So I'm just wondering.,,what's the long term plan here?

The Lost Sheep

padser wrote: »

Absolutely. But I'm wondering what the long term plan is.

We will qualify for the World Series I'd guess in reasonably short order (2/3 yrs max) at which point the 15 and 7 man games will conflict for players involved in the sevens.

Given the length of time it's taken for is to set up a sevens team (it's been talked about for years) I refuse to believe the IRFU hasn't thought about how that conflict will be resolved.

So I'm just wondering.,,what's the long term plan here?

You're asking questions most here cant answer and you should be asking IRFU. Who knows how long it'll be before we make world series as a full time member of it. We mightn't make world series as a team with core status in 3 years. We may make it to have teams competing in some tournaments of the world series in 2/3 years but cant see us as a team with core status that qualifies us to play all world series events in that time.

The Lost Sheep

Ireland Wolfhound 7s squad for round 1 of Great Britain 7s in Edinburgh this weekend.
http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/34690.php

Team will play 3 games in pool B against Welsh Charitables, Forces Exiles and Samurai before cup/plate playoff games.
Squad is:
Adam Byrne (UCD/Leinster)
Aaron Cairns (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Tom Daly (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Shane Layden (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Gearoid Lyons (Young Munster/Munster)
Diarmaid McCarthy (Young Munster/Munster)
David McGuigan (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Harry McNulty (UCD/Leinster)
Luke O'Dea (Shannon/Munster)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Ciaran Wardle (Exiles)
Alex Wootton (Garryowen/Munster)

The Lost Sheep

Wolfhound 7s finished second in their group and qualified for the semis
They won their opening game 31-24 against Welsh Charitables, they beat Forces Exiles 24-10 and lost to Samurai 7s 34-12.

They lost the semi final 21-17 to Wailers and will play Samurai 7s in the 3rd/4th playoff

.ak

Will there be any clips?

The Lost Sheep

.ak wrote: »

Will there be any clips?

Most likely. If IRFU don't have any up on irishrugby.ie on Tuesday then the org committee etc/other sides competing may have something up.

The Lost Sheep

It isn't highlights. Hopefully they will pop up somewhere later in the week but here's teams from each game and try scorers from the weekend
http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/34730.php#.VWyYHLjbLMx

The Lost Sheep

Interesting to see Seb Fromm in German 7s squad for the Grand Prix Series in Moscow this weekend(2nd leg Lyon 13-14 June and 3rd in Sandy Park 11-12 July)
Havent seen anymore Irish links to any other sides.

Winner of Grand Prix series qualifies automatically for Rio - England, Scotland, Wales, Russia, Spain, Belgium, Georgia, Portugal, Germany, Italy, France and Lithuania

AFAIK only full World Rugby members can get promotion, from what we're competing in next weekend, to Division B so essentially we will be promoted regardless of performance(I cant imagine we wont qualify in any circumstance)

.ak

Video highlights here.

The Lost Sheep

Squads for both this weekends competitions have been announced
http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/34748.php#.VW8XkbjbLMx

Ireland Men's Sevens Squad (Rugby Europe Men's Division C, Stadion Kamberovic Polie, Bosnia, 6 -7 June.)
1. Shane Layden (Buccaneers/ Connacht)
2. Gearoid Lyons (Young Munster/ Munster)
3. Diarmuid McCarthy (Young Munster/Munster)
4. Adam Byrne (UCD/Leinster)
5. Aaron Cairns (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
6. Tom Daly (Lansdowne/ Leinster) Captain
7. David McGuigan (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
8. Harry McNulty (UCD/Leinster)
9. Cian Aherne (Lansdowne /Leinster)
10. Mark Roche (Lansdowne/ Leinster)
11. Alex Wootton (Garryowen/Munster)
12. Michael Lawton (Exiles)

Rugby Europe Men's Division C Match Schedule
Saturday 6th June
10.22 Turkey v Ireland
14.28 Belarus v Ireland
16.22 Montenegro v Ireland
Sunday 7th June Playoffs

The Wolfhounds play GB7s stage two in Coventry this weekend.

Matthew D'Arcy (St. Marys/Leinster)
Ian Fitzpatrick (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Dan Goggin (Young Munster/Munster)
Eoghan Grace (Exiles)
Foster Horan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Dave Moore (Blackrock /Leinster)
Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/ Leinster)
Matthew O'Regan (Exiles)
Luke O'Dea (Shannon/ Munster)
Steve Toal-Lennon (St Marys/ Leinster)
Alan Bennie (Clanwilliam /Munster)
Ciaran Wardle (Exiles)
Terry Kennedy (St Mary's/ Leinster)
Alex Kane (Exiles)

2015 GB7s TOUR Stage 2 Match Schedule
11.09 Ireland Wolfhounds v Forces Exiles
12.42 Ireland Wolfhounds v England IPF
13.54 Co-Optmist v Ireland Wolfhounds
Playoffs

errlloyd

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Winner of Grand Prix series qualifies automatically for Rio - England, Scotland, Wales, Russia, Spain, Belgium, Georgia, Portugal, Germany, Italy, France and Lithuania

AFAIK only one of England, Scotland and Wales can qualify, and England already have.

The Lost Sheep

errlloyd wrote: »

AFAIK only one of England, Scotland and Wales can qualify, and England already have.

Make up of Team GB is yet to be decided. England have qualified a spot for team GB but how the Team GB will be made up is yet to be decided

CIARAN_BOYLE

errlloyd wrote: »

AFAIK only one of England, Scotland and Wales can qualify, and England already have.

England qualifies for GB.

kingofthekong

Are ireland likely to qualify for RIO or is it a long shot , apologies as I know little about the process.

thebaz

kingofthekong wrote: »

Are ireland likely to qualify for RIO or is it a long shot , apologies as I know little about the process.

from my little knowledge - No

The womens team should qualify - chance of a medal perhaps ?

p.s. I'm confused myself , why is there 2 mens teams ? are the Wolfhounds just a seconds team - we have gone from having no teams to 2 :-)

The Lost Sheep

kingofthekong wrote: »

Are ireland likely to qualify for RIO or is it a long shot, apologies as I know little about the process.

Not likely. We don't have the 7s experience to qualify this time round. We are competing against sides with lot more playing time in 7s, guys who are specialists. We have got a team off the ground. Getting to core status for the world series has to be the aim within next 3/4 years before getting to qualify for 2020.

thebaz wrote: »

from my little knowledge - No

The womens team should qualify - chance of a medal perhaps?

Womens team mightn't qualify and have no shot of a medal to be honest. Great Britain have qualified. France, Russia and Spain all much more likely to qualify for the European spot ahead of us and New Zealand, Australia, GB all much more likely to medal than us

CIARAN_BOYLE

thebaz wrote: »

from my little knowledge - No

The womens team should qualify - chance of a medal perhaps ?

p.s. I'm confused myself , why is there 2 mens teams ? are the Wolfhounds just a seconds team - we have gone from having no teams to 2 :-)

wolfhounds are a seconds team that takes part in the gb sevens series, it was felt having extra players playing 7s would be a good idea since there is a 25 (i think) man squad for 7s.

.ak

.ak wrote: »

Video highlights here.

Watched all the games last night. Hard to see who was who because of the quality of the video but the real stand outs for me were Adam Byrne and Luke O'Dea. Now I know I'm on the record of being big fans of these guys anyway but in LOD I couldn't tell it was him until I looked at the team sheets after. He has really great balance and awareness of space, he was turning guys inside out at will and rarely did guys get a hand on him when he kept his feet.

Byrne just made everything look effortless. He looked more like one of the flankers playing, he just ran through everything, very hard to stick a tackle on him. Picked up the most amount of tries too altho one of them was a simple hands on try. I was more impressed with the switch he setup for another player in the first game, after using his bulk to tie up a couple of defenders he brought some subtlety to the game. He was also one of the most vocal and involved guys on the pitch, great work rate and great body position in the rucks.

It'd be a great shame if these guys don't get much more game time at 15s... I really hope the injuries they've had doesn't put them off it completely. Especially with Byrne, he looks like an absolute beast of a back now, he isn't getting any smaller anyway.

CIARAN_BOYLE

.ak wrote: »

Watched all the games last night. Hard to see who was who because of the quality of the video but the real stand outs for me were Adam Byrne and Luke O'Dea. Now I know I'm on the record of being big fans of these guys anyway but in LOD I couldn't tell it was him until I looked at the team sheets after. He has really great balance and awareness of space, he was turning guys inside out at will and rarely did guys get a hand on him when he kept his feet.

I haven't watched it yet but he is one of the few players from the previous wolfhounds selection not to be in the senior squad for this weekend.

.ak

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I haven't watched it yet but he is one of the few players from the previous wolfhounds selection not to be in the senior squad for this weekend.

Luke? Yeah I'm surprised about that to be honest, his turn of pace and acceleration off his step is a joy to watch, not sure why he wasn't included.

Then again I don't know much about 7s.

VillaMad

Ireland 7's win their opening game against Turkey 43-5.

Play Belarus next.

irishbucsfan

Are those games being streamed by World Rugby anywhere by any chance?

VillaMad

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Are those games being streamed by World Rugby anywhere by any chance?

Not the Irish one anyway.

The tournament in Moscow between the top 12 teams is being shown on youtube.

kingofthekong

I presume tha result was expected no?

VillaMad

Just won their second game 60-0 against Belarus.

One group game left now against Montenegro.

VillaMad

Ireland won their final game of the day against Montenegro by 59 points to 5.

They topped their group and face Austria in the quarter-finals in the morning.

gazump123

Did we beat Austria? If so, who do we play in the semi?

Dj Stiggie

gazump123 wrote: »

Did we beat Austria? If so, who do we play in the semi?

Yeah we hammered them, then played Turkey again in the semi and beat them 41-0. We've secured promotion to Division B and will play either Serbia or Bosnia in the final.

gazump123

Dj Stiggie wrote: »

Yeah we hammered them, then played Turkey again in the semi and beat them 41-0. We've secured promotion to Division B and will play either Serbia or Bosnia in the final.

That's good. We would be expected to beat Serbia or Bosnia as well I assume?

.ak

I read that as Australia first and thought that was very impressive!

irishbucsfan

.ak wrote: »

I read that as Australia first and thought that was very impressive!

In an alternate reality wherr Australia's entry into the Eurovision was dependent on them joining the Rugby Europe 7s as well!

VillaMad

Just to put more meat on the bones.

Ireland defeated Austria 38-10, then beat Turkey 41-0 as was stated above in the semi's.

Played Bosnia in the final and have just won 50-0. Roll on Division B!