This time last week Team FRU had just endured a 12 hour overnight drive from Narbonne (after the U20’s game against Georgia) to Paris. Well we say Team FRU, the boss endured the 12 hour drive while the little munchkins slept all the way #ONETEAM.

The main thing is that we arrived in plenty of time for our first HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in Stade Jean Bouin, Paris and I must admit, after not being a particularly big fan of Sevens Rugby I left the event two days later completely hooked. We’ll definitely be back.

We were there primarily to cover Ireland Women but we covered most of the matches on Day One and Day two including Ireland Men Sevens, which we’ll bring you tomorrow.

For now, here’s our coverage of Ireland Women on Day One and Day Two.

Ireland rounded off their HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series with a win in the Challenge Trophy Final on Saturday night.

Ireland kicked off their campaign in positive fashion with a 24-5 victory over Wales in Match Two of Day One. Kayleigh Powell opened the scoring for Wales in the first minute but Stacey Flood responded with a try two minutes later. Katie Fitzhenry and Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe added the second and third tries while Flood added her second in the closing moments of the game to round off a comprehensive victory.

TO VIEW THE GALLERIES FROM THE IRELAND WOMEN SEVENS GAMES IN PARIS CLICK ON THE SLIDER BELOW TO GO TO THE APPROPRIATE GALLERY

PICTURE CREDIT – BETH CREGAN

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England were much tougher opposition and this was noticeable as Emily Scarratt got England off the mark almost from the kick off. Hannah Tyrell levelled the game up but three tries in three minutes from Abigail Brown and a Deborah Fleming brace took the game away from Ireland. Louise Galvin crossed for a consolation try on eight minutes but the scored finished 31-12 to England.

Another tough match followed as New Zealand were the opposition in Ireland’s last game of day 1. Niall Williams scored the only try of the first half as New Zealand took a 5-0 lead at the break while Michaela Blyde added a double after the interval to secure a 17-0 win for the eventual tournament winners and Series runners ups.

Defeats against England and New Zealand saw Ireland into the Challenge Trophy on day 2.

Ireland were first up on day 2 with their Challenge Trophy semi final against Wales. Like the first match between the sides, Wales took the lead through Jasmine Joyce. An unconverted Stacey Flood try left Ireland trailing 7-5 at half time. Two tries from Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe and Stacey Flood secured Ireland’s passage into the final with a 17-7 win.

Two-try Ireland defeated Russia 10-5 in the last game of day 2. Ireland got off to a poor start as Elena Zdrokova crossed after four minutes. Russia led at the break 5-0 nil but two second half Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe tries gave Ireland the victory and some silverware.

After the game Ross Barnett and Vicky Irwin caught up with Ashleigh Baxter and Stacey Flood.