Sevens

[Dave Cahill]

For the purposes of Olympic qualification, England Sevens is the team that "Team GB"'s qualification is based on.

[kermischocolate]

So the groups are out for the European Qualifier where Ireland's men could qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in July.
Easy enough- they only have to win the tournament which includes France, England and Spain in Colomiers on 13/14 July.
If they don't the teams that finish 2nd and 3rd go into the final repechage for the final place next summer.
https://www.rugbyeurope.eu/pools-announ ... tournament

The Women play in Paris this weekend in the ranking tournament for their qualifier in Kazan on 13/14 july as well. They only have to go and beat Russia in Russia .

How does the "England" team get to qualify? Does it not need to be GB?

Assuming we win our pool, Ireland likely to meet England in SF. France have easier half of the draw.

Because they are the highest ranked "gb" team they are "nominated" to qualify on behalf of Team GB. UK passport holders will then be eligible to play for them. Iirc in Rio there were 2? Scottish players in the team. Can't remember if any Welsh.

[leinsterforever]

James Davies, I think?

[neill_m]

Ireland's Group Games on Saturday (Irish Time)
v Ukraine 11:44am
v Russia 2:29pm
v Spain 5:36pm

The Womens 7s side are also playing in their equivalent competition this weekend in Kazan

Ireland's Group Games on Saturday (Irish Time)
v Romania 10:06am
v Czech Republic 12:51pm
v Spain 3:14pm

The Rugby Europe Website - http://www.rugbyeurope.eu will have live streams of both competitions.

[Ruckedtobits]

This is the weekend which has been on the radar for 9 months. Perform or fade away.

[kermischocolate]

This is the weekend which has been on the radar for 9 months. Perform or fade away.

Bit harsh. It's also been on the radar and targeted for the other teams as well.

[neill_m]

Important weekend with chance to make it to Tokyo, but maybe qualifying for the World Series in Hong Kong was a bigger weekend.

[neill_m]

Sunday QF

9:06am Irish Women v England
11:06am Irish Men v Germany

Spain were a thorn for Ireland on Saturday beating the Women and tying with the Men. Both finished 2nd in group.

[Dave Cahill]

Ireland W7 lose to England and will not be going to the Olympics

Ireland M7 play France in the semi-final. If they win the competition, they qualify. If they finish second or third, they go to the repechage competition. If they finish fourth, they will not be going to the Olympics

[Dave Cahill]

Ireland M7 lose their semi final 19-12 to France. They must now win the 3rd place playoff to qualify for the repechage.

[neill_m]

Playing Portugal in 3rd/4th game at 4:46pm (Irish Time)

[neiliog93]

Ireland M7 lose their semi final 19-12 to France. They must now win the 3rd place playoff to qualify for the repechage.

Notwithstanding the line-out farce after the hooter which worked in our favour, I thought the ref made a few harsh calls against us in the France match. We'd have to be favourites to beat Portugal, but taking nothing for granted.

[Dave Cahill]

England W7 win the final to qualify Team GB

[neill_m]

Ireland M7 won 26-10 v Portugal and finished 3rd. They progress to the repechage tournament next year.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I only saw the second half of the last game but Jack Kelly seems to have bulked up a bit. I don't watch much 7s really but every time I do I'm seriously impressed with Harry McNulty, he really is some athlete and is always very determined to be the difference maker.

[hugonaut]

I only saw the second half of the last game but Jack Kelly seems to have bulked up a bit. I don't watch much 7s really but every time I do I'm seriously impressed with Harry McNulty, he really is some athlete and is always very determined to be the difference maker.

Absolutely agree. He seems like a great guy, full of energy. He has really found his forté at Sevens, a natural.

[Dave Cahill]

I'd say if you had a chat to opposition players about the opposition players they most admire Harry's name would be mentioned more often than not. He has that valuable and often underrated ability to make his teammates look better just by playing his game well. He can do the more obvious stuff - line breaks, handling etc, but he does the nitty gritty so well too. Restarts? He takes 'em. Ball on the deck? He falls on it. A ruck needs clearing out? Harry is your man. He started at the lowest level of sevens and today looks comfortable at the highest.

<point labouring>He is also proof of the value of sevens as a development pathway for Rugby Union. Zero.</point labouring>

[coolbawn]

Yes, Jack Kelly seems to have really grown into his role and looks very self-confident now. He is seriously physical at rucks, tackles aggressively and has scored some fine tries in the #13 channel (as it were). I believe he really wants to succeed at 15s too.

McNulty seems a seriously impressive man all-round, as well as the skills you list.

Terry Kennedy is great to watch. Conroy too of course.

They seem a well-balanced squad.

Presumably, by the time the repechage comes around, they will be relative veterans on the World Circuit, so hopefully they will have closed the gap on the French and overtaken them (and everyone else).

[kermischocolate]

Just in my way back from Colomiers.
Well done Ireland. A full year on the World Series and that last Olympic qualifing place is potentially theirs for the taking. Biggest competition probably France and whichever Pacific islands team(s) are there.

[leinsterforever]

I'd say if you had a chat to opposition players about the opposition players they most admire Harry's name would be mentioned more often than not. He has that valuable and often underrated ability to make his teammates look better just by playing his game well. He can do the more obvious stuff - line breaks, handling etc, but he does the nitty gritty so well too. Restarts? He takes 'em. Ball on the deck? He falls on it. A ruck needs clearing out? Harry is your man. He started at the lowest level of sevens and today looks comfortable at the highest.

<point labouring>He is also proof of the value of sevens as a development pathway for Rugby Union. Zero.</point labouring>

Ha, that's assuming he's no better at 15s now with all his 7s experience than he was c. 2014 when he was cut from the Munster academy. I know which version I'd back to perform better if Leinster suddenly needed a wing or centre for a big game.

As far as development for rugby 15s goes, I'd view 7s as similar to sprinting or powerlifting or weightlifting. The best exponents of these sports might be completely useless at rugby 15s, but that doesn't necessarily mean a certain amount of exposure to them can't make people better at 15s than they were before. I think a rugby player who knocks half a second off his 100m time by doing athletics training for a few months is going to be a more effective player than before, all else being equal. Similarly with powerlifting or weightlifting. I suppose there's the danger of over-specialisation, but that's less likely with 7s than with doing too much weight training. You might just need a period of re-conditioning to adjust back - more muscle, less aerobic fitness.

As you've pointed out before, 7s isn't going to make anyone into a better tighthead than before, but I do think certain skills and techniques are worked extremely hard. Your passing has to be top-notch, and protecting the ball at the breakdown has to be done very accurately and with intensity. It also just makes players more comfortable operating in space. Sometimes I get the sense that some Irish players panic a little when they're in space and allow themselves to be corralled by defenders rather than realising they can manipulate defenders with their movements. I think 7s can help with that. I'd say centres, back three players and opensides are probably the ones who could benefit most from some exposure to the shortened version of the game.

As for bad habits you could pick up, I guess you'd have to make sure you don't do too much running cross-field, but my feeling would be that that's probably more to do with the picture you're getting from the defence in 7s, which would be different to 15s, so wouldn't crop up that much. Fijians generally being a bit lazy in tracking back could come from their 7s background. If a big break is made in 7s, a try is probably going to be conceded, so you're better off conserving your energy for the next play and trying to get one back. It's only speculation, but that could be the Fijian mindset. You'd have to consciously try not to pick up that habit.

That's my thoughts on it anyway. I'm looking forward to the World Series. It'll probably be a steep learning curve.