Lucy shines in Sydney

LUCY MULHALL was crowned the tournament’s second best performer as the Ireland Women finished seventh in the World Rugby Women’s Seven Series - matching their best ever finish.

A 19-10 victory over USA brought the curtain down on Ireland’s Sydney adventure after a frantic six games in three days.

Those six outings yielded two victories and four defeats against some of the world’s top sides.

On Friday, they took on Russia, Canada and Fiji in Pool C. They opened their campaign against Russia but succumbed to a 19-7 defeat. Mulhall landed a conversion.

Ireland looked to bounce back against Canada but - despite a try and conversion from Rathdrum’s finest - a 24-12 loss was the outcome.

Fiji then felt the wrath of the Irish as they picked up their first win at the third time of asking. Mulhall added another conversion to her tally to help Ireland to a 17-14 success.

Overnight, Ireland may well have been dreaming of a landmark day in their history but unfortunately they were overpowered by both Ireland and France on Saturday afternoon.

New Zealand provided the opposition for the quarter-final and it was the only match in which Mulhall failed to score as Ireland crashed to a humbling 36-0 loss.

Ireland took on France in the 5th-8th place play-off. Mulhall converted Amee-Leigh Murphy’s try but it wasn’t enough to prevent Ireland from sliding to a 7-17 defeat.

The curtain came down on Ireland’s Australian adventure on Sunday as Ireland and the USA tussled for seventh and eight place.

Mulhall once again proved adept from the kicking tee as she kicked her fifth conversion of the weekend to guide her side to ninepoint victory.

Despite being part of a team that finished behind six other nations, the Ireland captain’s performance saw her named the second best player of the tournament.

She was pipped to the post by Baizat Khamidova of Russia. Mulhall finished up with 24 tackles, one break, seven offloads, and 17 carries.