By Jonathan Bowen
David Nucifora’s gamble to place all of Ireland’s women’s rugby resources behind the Irish Women’s 7s side paid off over the weekend with when the team clinched the last automatic qualification spot for the Olympic Games next year in Paris. The final women’s HSBC World Rugby 7s tournament for 2023 was held in Toulouse, France.
Ireland’s tournament started with a strong 27-7 win over France in the opening pool game. That was followed up by a 33-12 loss to Australia. Ireland would bounce back strongly with an impressive 36-7 over Brazil. This would see Ireland play Australia again in the Quarterfinal Play-Off game where the stakes were high.
Ireland played one of their best games of the year but eventually lost to a well organized and structured Australian team, 17-7. This would lead to a winner takes all game against Fiji. The winner of this game would clinch the last automatic qualification spot for the Olympic Games tournament in 2024.
The game against Fiji was tough hard and fast. Ireland scored first through Amee Leigh Murphy however Fiji hit back almost immediately through a well worked try by Illsapeci Delaiwau.
Amee Leigh Murphy would score Ireland’s last try of the game just on half time which would give Ireland a 10-5 lead. Once the second half started it was a test of who could hold their nerve. Both teams would ultimately make errors which would hand their opponents the advantage, however as the second half went on neither team could make a breakthrough and Ireland, through sheer grit and determination, managed to hold their nerve and win the game.
The following game against Japan become irrelevant as the goal of automatic qualification for the Olympic games had been achieved. Japan would ultimately win the 5th place play-off game by 14-0 but it was party time for the Irish team as automatic qualification had been achieved.
It has been a long and tough journey for the Irish Women’s 7s side during this 7s season. Early strong performances where the team finished fourth at the Cape Town, Hamilton and Sydney events become the backbone of what would be a successful season.
The seven’s program has been under the microscope of Irish pundits this year. With the failure of the Irish Women’s XV’s rugby team to win a game during the recent Six Nations tournament and with questions about why Ireland’s best women’s rugby players were either not being picked or not being recalled from the sevens to the XV’s team become a topic that would not go away.
The fact that the seven’s team was being exposed to the top rugby teams during each tournament and the XV’s side only played two test matches in Japan last year outside the Six Nations championship begged the question, is the Irish seven’s program more successful because of the consistently high level of rugby teams they are playing at each tournament.
The fact the Irish Women’s side qualified for the Olympic Games the answer would have to be YES!
The other factor that needs to be mentioned was the dismissal of the Irish team coach Aiden McNulty after the Sydney 7s tournament. Under Aiden’s guidance the team had some of their best performances of the season with three top four finishes in a row in Cape Town, Hamilton, and Sydney.
Whether it was right that David Nucifora would ultimately dismiss Aiden from his role is still to be seen as the team were not as successful without him as they were with him.
Ultimately David’s aim of seeing the team qualify for the Olympic Games was achieved and both men deserve a lot of credit for building the structure within the Irish women’s seven’s program that achieved this feet. The next step is replicating the success of the Irish Women’s seven’s program and adapting it to the Irish Women’s XV’s program.
So now that the HSBC Women’s World 7s series for 2023 has come to an end it was a surprise to no one that New Zealand’s Blackferns team clinched the series title this year winning every tournament bar the opening one in Dubai.
With so many great players in the side that also won the Women’s Rugby World Cup last year in New Zealand, it will be tough to see any team beating them to that Gold Medal next year.
The surprise performer of the year was the USA women’s side. They finished third in the table with four third place finishes and two second place finishes. The talent coming through the USA seven’s program is something to keep your eye on for the future.
So, the teams qualified for the Olympic games are New Zealand, France, Australia, USA, and Ireland. There will be a second chance for other teams to qualify through various qualification tournaments to be held later in the year.
A reminder to all you New York Rugby fans the NYC Seven’s tournament is coming to town on the 15th of July and will be held at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. This event will showcase the best of men’s seven’s rugby. It will be an event not to be missed.
You can buy tickets through the competition’s website at nycsevens.com. We hope to see you there!
One other bit of news I would like you to keep your support going for is, Orla Fowley who is looking to raise money for the CARI Foundation and CRY Cardiac Risk in the Young and The Mid-Western Cancer Foundation in honour of his husband Munster and Irish Rugby Legend Anthony Fowley. If you can spare a few dollars this is a very worthwhile cause to donate too. As part of the fundraiser Orla has cycled 3000km around Ireland and counting. She is looking to raise 40K euro for this very worthy cause. Any contribution you can make would be more grateful. Here is a link to the website where you can donate: https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/ORLASWILDWAYS If you want to keep up to date with all the latest rugby news you can find me on Instagram @jb052006 or drop me an email at jonathan.joseph.bowen@gmail.com.