THE IRFU High Performance Centre will this weekend play host to the first of three IRFU 7s tournaments, as the Ireland’s Men’s Sevens return to action alongside Munster, Connacht and Ulster in an exciting series of games.
The Munster 7s squad includes senior players Liam Coombes, Matt Gallagher, Calvin Nash, Alex McHenry and Jack O’Sullivan.
Academy players Scott Buckley, Eoghan Clarke, Jack Crowley, Jack Daly, Jake Flannery, Seán French and Jonathan Wren complete the 12-man squad.
Greig Oliver is the Head Coach and the Team Manager is Peter Malone.
Cian Gormley and Ged McNamara are the S&C team with Shane Malone the Munster 7s physiotherapist.
Anthony Eddy’s senior Ireland 7s team will use the tournament to step-up their preparations for the 2021 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
The inaugural IRFU 7s tournament is set to provide players with a valuable platform to boost game-time and sharpen their match intensity in a competitive environment.
Rounds 2 and 3 of the IRFU 7s tournament are scheduled to take place at the IRFU High Performance Centre on Saturday, October 31 and Saturday, November 7.
Eddy has selected a strong Ireland Sevens squad for the first tournament of the series as the National team continue to build and prepare towards next season’s World Series and the final Olympic qualification event in 2021.
Jordan Conroy, who was last season’s World Series top try-scorer and was recently selected in the HSBC World Series Dream Team, is among those named in the 13-man panel.
Call ups for former Ireland Sevens internationals Shane Daly, Hugo Keenan and Will Connors to the senior squad last week have further highlighted the skill and athletic development opportunity within the National Sevens programme.
Former Ireland Sevens internationals Alex McHenry and Jack Daly form part of a strong Munster side travelling to Dublin.
Eddy, the IRFU Director of Women’s and Sevens Rugby, said,
“This tournament provides opportunity and exposure to players on so many levels – firstly they get the opportunity to play some rugby, to test themselves against a National team and on the other hand, the National team has the opportunity to show what they do.”
“It also puts some young players in the frame for National selection at a later date and is valuable game-time for all players involved. I expect the tournament to be very competitive and over the three legs, you would hope to see some real improvement in all the teams.”
The Provincial coaches and strength and conditioning staff have been working closely with the Ireland Sevens management in advance of Saturday, utilising the expertise and experience on hand to prepare their sides for the tournament.
There will be live updates from the Academy 7s tournament on Irish Rugby social media channels and on IrishRugby.ie this Saturday.
IRFU Academy 7s Squads
Munster: Eoghan Clarke, Scott Buckley, Jack Daly, Jack Crowley, Jake Flannery, Jonathan Wren, Sean French, Jack O’Sullivan, Alex McHenry, Liam Coombes, Calvin Nash, Matt Gallagher.
Ireland: Aaron O’Sullivan, Ian Fitzpatrick, Gavin Mullin, Peter Maher, Jack Kelly, Mark Roche, Billy Dardis, Hugo Lennox, Terry Kennedy, Duran Krummeck, Steven Kilgallon, Jordan Conroy, Eanna Madden.
Connacht: Cathal Forde, Shane Jennings, Oran McNulty, Sean O’Brien, Diarmuid Kilgallen, Donnacha Byrne, Hubert Costello, Declan Adamson, Dylan Tierney, Oisin McCormack, Joshua Dunne.
Ulster: Azur Allison, Ben Carson, Lewis Finlay, Hayden Hyde, Bruce Houston, Cormac Izuchukwu, Greg Jones, Conor Rankin, Marcus Rea, Aaron Sexton, David Shanahan.
IRFU Academy 7s Schedule – Saturday 17th October
- Connacht v Ulster, IRFU High Performance Centre, 11am
- Ireland v Munster, IRFU High Performance Centre, 11.22am
- Ireland v Connacht, IRFU High Performance Centre, 12.02pm
- Munster v Ulster, IRFU High Performance Centre, 12.22pm
- Ulster v Ireland, IRFU High Performance Centre, 1.06pm
- Connacht v Munster, IRFU High Performance Centre, 1.28pm.
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