A brace of tries from Chay Mullins completed an opening 19-5 win for the Ireland Men over Japan at the HSBC Cape Town Sevens tournament.
The Ireland Men (sponsored by TritonLake) are top of Pool B heading into a busy Saturday schedule, which will see them play Uruguay and Samoa before a possible Cup quarter-final in the evening session.
The third leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series saw Mark Roche make history as he became the first Irishman to play 100 World Series matches.
The skilful scrum half achieved the milestone during the Japan game, which was a tough assignment for James Topping's men. The sides scored a try apiece during a slow-burning first half.
Ireland took a third-minute lead, Aaron O'Sullivan's nicely floated pass over the top releasing captain Harry McNulty to outpace Kameli Soejima on the left wing and go in behind the posts. Hugo Lennox converted.
The elusive Ren Miyagami was central to Japan's quick response. The restart just evaded Irish hands and the Asian outfit soon broke downfield at pace, setting up youngster Taiyo Sugino to scoop a long pass out for Soejima to pull the deficit back to 7-5.
A couple of knock-ons spoiled Ireland's hopes of hitting back before the half-time hooter, but Jack Kelly and Mullins both brought a physical impact off the bench as Ireland sought to build a match-winning cushion.
Mullins made it 12-5 in the 10th minute, two sidesteps near halfway allowing him to accelerate through and despite a committed chase from Sugino, the Connacht Academy player dotted down one-handed in the left corner.
It was far from plain sailing, though, as McNulty did just enough to prevent Yoshiyuki Koga from claiming a breakaway try. He had his foot in touch before grounding the ball, and Ireland regrouped with just a minute remaining.
Space opened up for McNulty to put Mullins darting clear on a 80-metre run-in, with Roche tagging on the conversion for a 14-point winning margin. Samoa beat Uruguay 21-10 in the other fixture in Ireland's pool.
Topping's charges are back in action tomorrow morning, facing 2022 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series champions Uruguay at 9.51am local time/7.51am Irish time. They lock horns with Samoa at 3.32pm local time/1.32pm Irish time.
You can watch all the World Series action live on the World Rugby Sevens website, while there will be updates across Irish Rugby social channels and reports here on IrishRugby.ie.
The elusive Ren Miyagami was central to Japan's quick response. The restart just evaded Irish hands and the Asian outfit soon broke downfield at pace, setting up youngster Taiyo Sugino to scoop a long pass out for Soejima to pull the deficit back to 7-5.
A couple of knock-ons spoiled Ireland's hopes of hitting back before the half-time hooter, but Jack Kelly and Mullins both brought a physical impact off the bench as Ireland sought to build a match-winning cushion.
Mullins made it 12-5 in the 10th minute, two sidesteps near halfway allowing him to accelerate through and despite a committed chase from Sugino, the Connacht Academy player dotted down one-handed in the left corner.
It was far from plain sailing, though, as McNulty did just enough to prevent Yoshiyuki Koga from claiming a breakaway try. He had his foot in touch before grounding the ball, and Ireland regrouped with just a minute remaining.
Space opened up for McNulty to put Mullins darting clear on a 80-metre run-in, with Roche tagging on the conversion for a 14-point winning margin. Samoa beat Uruguay 21-10 in the other fixture in Ireland's pool.
Topping's charges are back in action tomorrow morning, facing 2022 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series champions Uruguay at 9.51am local time/7.51am Irish time. They lock horns with Samoa at 3.32pm local time/1.32pm Irish time.
You can watch all the World Series action live on the World Rugby Sevens website, while there will be updates across Irish Rugby social channels and reports here on IrishRugby.ie.