Ireland Men 7s finished the Paris leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series in 10th place following Challenge Trophy Quarter Final and Semi Final wins, against Scotland and Australia respectively, before succumbing to Canada in the Trophy Final. 

Day 1 Review here.

Day 2 match details are shown below.

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Scotland picked up two early yellow cards and Ireland took advantage with Sullivan grabbing an early brace.

Scotland responded with a try of their own, once restored to seven players, but, crucially, Lenox crossed before the break to give Ireland a 17 – 7 lead as the teams changed ends.

Izuchukwu extended Ireland’s lead at the start of the second half and, despite Scotland pulling one back, the Irish side held on reasonably comfortably to progress to the semi final.

Ireland Scorers.
TRY: Peter Sullivan (2), Hugo Lennox, Cormac Izuchukwu
CON: Billy Dardis (2)

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An early yellow card for Ireland’s Kelly saw Australia take a 10 point lead thanks to two unconverted tries.

Kelly made amends with a try on his return, converted by Dardis, and, hard hitting, Mollen pushed Ireland into a 12 – 10 lead at the break.

Fitzpatrick bagged another converted try at the start of the second half before Australia responded, to take the score to 19 – 17, before Kelly crossed for his second try of the game to see Ireland progress to the final.

Ireland Scorers.
TRY: Jack Kelly (2), Bryan, Mollen, Ian Fitzpatrick
CON: Billy Dardis (2)

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Ireland struggled at the restarts in the first half with Canada taking full advantage to score three tries and take a 5 – 21 lead into the break,  McNulty crossing for Ireland.

Both teams looked out on their feet in the second half but a big effort from Dardis saw him cross, and convert, Ireland’s second before Canada wrapped up the final with a late score.

Ireland Scorers.
TRY: Harry McNulty, Billy Dardis
CON: Billy Dardis

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On the whole Ireland will be pleased with thier performance. 

Another couple of players, Izzy Izuchukwu and Peter Maher, were blooded in this tournament and the team remained competitive in the bulk of their matches, Series Champions Fiji the only side to give them a spanking over the two days. 

Peter Sullivan, Jack Kelly and Ian Fitzpatrick were our pick of the “comparatively” new boys and the experienced Bryan Mollen caught the eye with a couple of big hits that will see him known as Smash Mollen from now on. 😀 

The player stats from the Paris 7s are shown below. 

Ireland 7s Player Stats – Paris 7s

Player	Club	PARIS 7s
		Played	Points
Jack Daly	Garryowen	5	0
Shane Daly	Cork Constitution	4	0
Billy Dardis	UCD	6	19
Ian Fitzpatrick	Lansdowne	4	5
Izzy Izuchukwu *	Old Wesley	6	5
Jack Kelly	Dublin University	6	15
Hugo Lennox	Clontarf	6	10
Harry McNulty	UCD	6	5
Peter Maher*	Old Belvedere	3	5
Mick McGrath	Clontarf	2	10
Bryan Mollen	Blackrock College	6	5
Greg O’Shea	Shannon	2	0
Peter Sullivan	Lansdowne	6	20

 

As for the overall competition:  After 10 tournaments, it all came down to the Cup Semi Final between Fiji and USA to see who was going to win the overall series. 

Fiji went into the game two series points ahead of the USA with the Islanders requiring a win to finish as champions. USA needed to win the Semi Final and finish two places above Fiji if they were to become series winners. 

As it was, Fiji were pretty dominant in the closing rounds, beating USA 33 – 14 before going on to win the final 35 – 24 against New Zealand.

The USA suffered further final day blues by losing the 3rd place play off to, defending champions, South Africa 7- 24 but remained in second place overall across the series.