Ireland Men’s Sevens: Dubai Day 1 Round-Up

Ireland began the day strongly with a convincing 36-0 win over Belgium in the Dubai Men’s Sevens International Invitational Tournament, which is run alongside the main World Series competition.
 
Dan Goggin opened the scoring after pressure from the kick-off led to Belgium turning over the ball, The Young Munster clubman gathered to race into the left hand corner.
 
Minutes later, Barry Daly showed good strength to break through a tackle and sprint in under the posts from his own half, with captain Tom Daly converting to make it 12-0.
 
Scrum half Aaron Cairns took a tap penalty, spotted a half gap and duly stepped his way through to score under the posts. Skipper Daly again converted to give Ireland a 19-0 lead at half-time.
 
Ireland started the second half as they finished the first, as UCD winger Daly again outmuscled the Belgian defence to break a tackle in his own half and then used his pace to evade two more defenders and touch down behind the posts, allowing his captain an easy shot at goal.
 
Coach Stan McDowell used his bench well and the fresh legs of Mark Roche and Gearoid Lyons combined well to put Ulster Academy recruit Nick Timoney away down the right hand side to extend the margin to 31 unanswered points.
 
Roche was again involved soon after when smart play at the breakdown allowed him to steal the ball from Belgium and offload to Lyons who scored to the right of the posts, sealing a 36-0 success.
 
In their second game of the day, McDowell’s charges came up against the Apache 7s – a team they had faced previously on the GB7s Tour circuit over the summer.

Apache, who are a touring Sevens side, managed to find holes in the Irish defence which they exploited with their quick feet and raw pace to score out wide.

Ireland kept up with Apache for the rest of the first half, but were caught out after the break as the opposition again broke the line to score under the posts. Apache scored their third try at the close of play, winning the game 19-0.
 
Daly and his team-mates had a bye in the third round and will advance to the Cup quarter-finals when they will meet Georgia at 10am local time/6am Irish time tomorrow.

IRELAND MEN’S SEVENS Squad (Emirates Airline International Invitational Men’s Tournament – Dubai, UAE – Friday, December 4-Saturday, December 5):

Adam Byrne (UCD/Leinster)
Aaron Cairns (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Tom Daly (Lansdowne/Leinster) (capt)
Barry Daly (UCD/Leinster)
Dan Goggin (Young Munster/Munster)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Terry Kennedy (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
Gearoid Lyons (Young Munster/Munster)
David McGuigan (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Rory O’Loughlin (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

Steve Toal-Lennon (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)

Ireland Men’s Sevens Results/Fixtures –

Friday, December 4:

Belgium Rugby 7s 0 Ireland 36
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Dan Goggin, Barry Daly 2, Aaron Cairns, Nick Timoney, Gearoid Lyons; Cons: Tom Daly 3

Apache 19 Ireland 0
Scorers: Ireland: –

Saturday, December 5:

Cup Quarter-Final: Georgia v Ireland, 10am local time/6am Irish time