Kidney’s Irish blow Quins away at Stoop

DECLAN KIDNEY has begun to work his magic at London Irish after the English Premiership’s bottom side secured a surprise 35-5 victory over Harlequins at The Stoop – only the third win recorded by the Exiles this season. Kidney (below) took over at London Irish a few weeks ago, his first coaching job since his time as Ireland head coach ended in 2013, and saw his players dominate the home side with a hugely impressive display yesterday before the shocked home fans. Scrum-half Piet van Zyl crossed for two tries with Max Northcote-Green and Tom Fowlie scoring also to get the Exiles a crucial bonus point. It keeps alive their slim hopes of avoiding relegation, but Worcester’s win over Newcastle means there is a nine-point gap between the league’s bottom two clubs.

■ IRELAND’S Sevens side put themselves in position to qualify for the elite World Sevens circuit in 2019 with an excellent Repechage quarter-final victory over Zimbabwe in Hong Kong yesterday. Anthony Eddy’s men were in lethal form with tries from Hugo Keenan, John O’Donnell, Ian Fitzpatrick, Shane Daly, Terry Kennedy and Bryan Mollen in their 38-5 win. The livewire Mark Roche converted three of the tries with Billy Dardis adding the extra two points to Kennedy’s late effort. The victory teed up Ireland for a semi-final showdown with Japan this morning where the winner will take on either Germany or Chile who are contesting the other semi-final. Qualifying for the World Sevens cicruit would be a remarkable achievement for Ireland who began this journey in Division C of the European Championship in 2015.