Clontarf winger Mick McGrath scored a last minute try to secure Ireland a day one victory over England in the opening game of the London 7s.
Tries from Ian Fitzpatrick, Bryan Mollen and a last minute gallop from McGrath secured Ireland the win as the sevens side continue their marvelous season following their Hong Kong Sevens qualifier win last month.
The victory in Hong Kong also grants the IRFU core nation status which allows the union to send teams to compete at all series events next season.
The IRFU said at the launch of their strategic plan last year that the union aims to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora added that sevens is ultimately a great access point for players in Ireland.
“It (Sevens) is an access point to the game, we needed to give people an easy access point into the game,” he said.
“One of the beauties of rugby is its complexity. That can also be one of our challenges in that it is a complex game for people to play and learn.
“To be able to bring young players into the game with something that is a lot more uncluttered, a lot simpler to learn but has all the basic components of the game – what you need to be able to do to be able to play XVs rugby.
“So it’s an obvious access point for the people who haven’t played the game before.
“So, when you’re presented with tools like that, if you don’t utilise them properly that would be poor business.”
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