IRELAND SLAY AUSSIES TO CLAIM THIRD BRONZE OF THE SEASON
The men in green want to ‘inspire people at home’ as they close gap on series leaders Argentina
Ireland celebrated the five-year anniversary of earning their core world series status by slaying traditional heavyweights Australia 14-5 to bank a third bronze finish of the season.
Hugo Lennox scored two tries, which he converted himself, in two first-half minutes, as Australia struggled to contain an Irish side smarting from an off-colour display in their semi-final meeting with France.
Henry Palmer’s score at the end gave the scoreline a respectability that earlier seemed beyond the Aussies, shell-shocked following a heavy beating at the hands of eventual champions New Zealand in their last-four encounter.
Ireland overcame Hong Kong at the same venue five years previously to the day to gain their elite stripes. While the hosts were celebrating success in the Melrose Claymore tournament yesterday, the Irish were cementing their position as one of the stories of this season.
The 16 points they gained in Hong Kong moved them to eight behind series leaders Argentina, who stumbled here, ahead of next month’s closing regular-season leg in Singapore.
“It is pretty remarkable how far our squad has come,” Lennox, whose nation established a sevens programme only a decade ago, told the Post.
“We want to inspire people at home, because a lot of them probably wouldn’t have known what sevens was five years ago.
“With the way we are playing, and how our women are playing, it has grown massively. More people are getting into the game.”
Lennox went over in the right corner after four minutes. His second try resulted from a grubber kick that mischievously evaded the hands of Australia’s James Turner as it bounced behind the line. Lennox exploited Turner’s misery to ground the ball and create daylight between the teams.
“We are knocking on the door at every tournament, and hunting down Argentina,” Lennox said.
The grey cloud that shrouded the Great Britain women’s team earlier at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens developed a silver lining yesterday, as they pulled further away from relegation with a
14-5 victory over Brazil in the ninth-placed play-off.
Going into the weekend, Great Britain were ranked eighth in the HSBC SVNS standings with 29 points, and Brazil were just one point behind in the first relegation spot.
Great Britain’s win in the play-off game boosted their overall series standings by four points, extending the gap between them and the Brazilians by two points.
“We came here to increase that gap, which we’re happy with,” Great Britain’s Jade Shekells said.
The play-off decided who finished ninth in the Hong Kong event, not the series overall, which tours eight countries. Those placed in the bottom four of the 12-team league table at the end of next month’s Sevens in Singapore will fight it out in a relegation
“It is very fine margins [that decide tournaments], we have probably lacked a bit of discipline or control in certain parts of games, and you need it all to click to win.”
As he talked inside the Irish dressing room, a tattoo of the Olympic rings was visible on Lennox’s torso. Ireland went out at the group stage on their Games debut, but this enterprising, spirited team is a different proposition promotion play-off in Madrid with the top four teams from the Challenger Series.
“We don’t want to be sitting in the relegation zone going into Madrid,” said Great Britain’s top scorer for the weekend, Ellie Boatman. “Staying clear of Brazil in Singapore is the aim now and hopefully we can reach the quarter-final or beyond.”
On the pitch, Great Britain’s women went through Brazil’s defence like a hot knife through butter, carving a gaping hole in their defence on two occasions to lead the tie 14-0 at half-time.
“We just wanted to go out there and impose our game, and defence was one of those points, just making sure that we can take possession away from them,” Shekells added.
Brazil picked up in the second half but the only thing of note was a try from Thalia Costa one minute from time.
Lars Hamer from the one that went to Tokyo three years ago.
“Succeeding at the Olympics is everyone’s ambition, and I think we are putting ourselves in a great spot going towards Paris,” Lennox said. “That is the goal at the end of the season.”
Australia were a husk of the side that scored 46 unanswered points against Canada and South Africa on Saturday.
Unable to lift themselves, barely three hours after their humbling by New Zealand, the Wallabies’ third-placed contest did at least provide an opportunity to hand a first start of the tournament to Michael Hooper.
The test great, playing his first sevens rugby after crossing from the 15s code, was typically physical, but could not stem the Irish tide.
“That was the most game time I have had, and it felt good, I had more in the tank,” Hooper said.
“We handled the first two days pretty well, but today was not our day. I don’t think we performed near our best, we let in a few points, and did not really get our attack flowing.”
Hooper said the butterflies that accompanied his debut as a substitute on Friday were “more controllable knowing you will be out there on the first whistle”.
Has Hooper caught the sevens bug? “Yes, I enjoyed that,” he said. “I want more time on the field, and I just want to improve.”
BRITISH WOMEN PULL CLEAR OF BRAZIL IN RELEGATION ZONE