Ireland Sevens Audio: Kieran Campbell
The Ireland Sevens squad venture to Hannover in Germany this weekend with the aim of qualifying for next year’s Sevens World Cup. IrishRugby.ie caught up with Kieran Campbell, the Sevens team captain, at their training base in Dublin to get his thoughts on the tournament, the squad’s preparations and also his move to Connacht.
The Ireland Sevens team, sponsored by Independent News and Media, will travel to Hannover in Germany this coming weekend with the carrot of automatic qualification for the 2009 IRB Sevens World Cup tournament in Dubai up for grabs.
The final European qualifier will see five teams qualify for the Sevens World Cup. 12 teams will be competing at Hannover’s AWD-Arena.
Ireland are in Pool B alongside Wales, Italy, Ukraine, Poland and Belgium. Top seeds Portugal are in Pool A with Spain, Russia, Romania, Georgia and host country Germany.
Ireland will open the tournament with a game against the Ukraine at 12pm on Saturday. Next up is a crucial encounter with second seeds Wales at 3.10pm followed by the game against Italy at 5.40pm and a clash with Belgium at 7.30pm.
On Sunday, Ireland will play their final pool game against Poland at 9.50am.
The top two sides in each pool will go through to the Cup semi-finals and Ireland will be hoping to be in this section.
Kieran Campbell, the team captain and the only senior-capped player in the squad, took time out from this week’s training camp in Dublin to talk with journalist Coilin Duffy for IrishRugby.ie.
Click here to listen to the interview in full.
Click here for news on Ireland’s draw for the Hannover tournament.
Click here for Ireland Sevens squad profiles.