Ireland Women Narrowly Miss Out On Bronze In Sydney
Ireland's Emily Lane celebrates in Sydney.
Ireland Women’s Sevens, sponsored by TritonLake, narrowly missed out on a brilliant bronze medal in Sydney this morning, slipping to a 12-5 defeat to USA in the Bronze Final at Allianz Stadium.
Aiden McNulty‘s side played some eye-catching rugby over the course of the weekend in Sydney, backing up their fourth place finishes in Cape Town and Hamilton with another strong showing at the fourth leg of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series.
Ireland were unable to contain the power of New Zealand earlier on Sunday, suffering a heavy semi-final defeat, as they dropped into the Bronze Final to face familiar foes USA.
In another tight and competitive contest, USA grabbed an early lead through Sammy Sullivan and despite large attacking periods for Ireland and some huge defensive sets, they conceded another try shortly after the restart, as Kristi Kirshe went over.
Ireland responded strongly, however, and Kathy Baker‘s breakaway try brought McNulty’s charges back to within a score with four minutes left on the clock.
Ireland pushed for a late leveller but USA stood firm in defence to claim the podium finish in Australia.
Ireland Men, meanwhile, finished sixth in Sydney as they suffered a 24-12 defeat to Samoa in their play-off match.