Having been knocked out of Cup contention by France, the Ireland Women's Sevens team (sponsored by TritonLake) bounced back to secure a bronze medal finish at the Algarve Sevens.
An unanswered run of tries from Erin King, Kate Farrell McCabe, Béibhinn Parsons and Clare Gorman saw them get the better of Poland, winning the Bronze final on a 20-7 scoreline.
Their fourth victory of the weekend saw them end the opening leg of the Rugby Europe Sevens Championship Series on a positive note. Parsons accumulated eight tries, while new cap Gorman contributed three.
With captain Lucy Mulhall and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe both rested, coach Allan Temple-Jones tested out some combinations, handed Stacey Flood the captaincy role, and gave valuable game-time to some of the squad's younger players.
Speaking after the Poland game, Flood said: "It's good to finish the last game on a high with bronze, but where this team wants to be is in that Cup final. Happy to get the win there, though.
"Hopefully we keep building in Hamburg (at the second leg) and we keep getting those wins and getting those performances in.
"We've really enjoyed the tournament here. It was a good atmosphere, good weather, great crowd, so it makes it better to play in."
The Ireland Women will compete at the European Games in Krakow, Poland (June 25-27) - Sevens has been included at the multi-sport event for the first time - before the Rugby Europe Series concludes in the German city of Hamburg (July 7-9).
Ireland fell behind in the Bronze medal match, with a couple of penalties drawing Poland into try-scoring range before Natalia Pamieta converted her own third-minute effort.
The scoreline remained 7-0 during teenage forward King's sin-binning, before Poland's Hanna Maliszewska saw yellow for a high tackle on Emily Lane.
Using their numerical advantage, Farrell McCabe and Parsons made huge ground on a break down the right side. Quick ruck ball was fed across to the opposite wing where a timely Flood delivery put King over to open the Irish account.
Trailing 7-5 at the break, Ireland took the lead inside 90 seconds of the restart. A couple of sweetly-timed offloads off the ground from both King and Parsons released Farrell McCabe to score from just inside the Polish 10-metre line.
https://twitter.com/rugby_europe/status/1667932017613238278?cxt=HHwWjMCztafV16UuAAAA
Continuing to attack the short side, Lane's slick offload out of a tackle from Malgorzata Koldej resulted in Parsons scoring in the right corner. Suddenly the gap between the sides was eight points.
Ireland sealed the result with a well-taken try from Gorman, who successfully grounded the ball despite being tackled short by Julianna Schuster. Megan Burns provided the assist, with Flood initially having won a penalty at the breakdown.
Earlier on today, the experienced quartet of Camille Grassineau, Anne-Cécile Ciofani, Jade Ulutule and Shannon Izar returned from injury for eventual champions France, and they made a big difference in the semi-final against Ireland.
Izar played in Séraphine Okemba for the opening try, which coincided with the early injury-enforced departure of Anna McGann. Okemba then reached over to make it 10-0 in the fourth minute.
As Ireland struggled to get out of their own half, Okemba and Izar used turnover ball to send Chloe Jacquet over for the third French try, which also went unconverted.
King unfortunately lacked support on a solo break past halfway, and with France's swarming defence continuing to force Irish errors, Ciofani slipped out of a tackle to widen the margin to 22 points.
Farrell McCabe and Burns combined to tackle Yolaine Yengo into touch, but Ireland could not prevent a fifth French score - and a 29-0 defeat in the end - despite the best efforts of Flood.
The Ireland skipper retrieved her own kick through and looked to create an opening near halfway, only for Gorman to be hit hard in a tackle, and Joanna Grisez shrugged off Farrell McCabe to go in under the posts.
The Ireland Women will compete at the European Games in Krakow, Poland (June 25-27) - Sevens has been included at the multi-sport event for the first time - before the Rugby Europe Series concludes in the German city of Hamburg (July 7-9).
Ireland fell behind in the Bronze medal match, with a couple of penalties drawing Poland into try-scoring range before Natalia Pamieta converted her own third-minute effort.
The scoreline remained 7-0 during teenage forward King's sin-binning, before Poland's Hanna Maliszewska saw yellow for a high tackle on Emily Lane.
Using their numerical advantage, Farrell McCabe and Parsons made huge ground on a break down the right side. Quick ruck ball was fed across to the opposite wing where a timely Flood delivery put King over to open the Irish account.
Trailing 7-5 at the break, Ireland took the lead inside 90 seconds of the restart. A couple of sweetly-timed offloads off the ground from both King and Parsons released Farrell McCabe to score from just inside the Polish 10-metre line.
https://twitter.com/rugby_europe/status/1667932017613238278?cxt=HHwWjMCztafV16UuAAAA
Continuing to attack the short side, Lane's slick offload out of a tackle from Malgorzata Koldej resulted in Parsons scoring in the right corner. Suddenly the gap between the sides was eight points.
Ireland sealed the result with a well-taken try from Gorman, who successfully grounded the ball despite being tackled short by Julianna Schuster. Megan Burns provided the assist, with Flood initially having won a penalty at the breakdown.
Earlier on today, the experienced quartet of Camille Grassineau, Anne-Cécile Ciofani, Jade Ulutule and Shannon Izar returned from injury for eventual champions France, and they made a big difference in the semi-final against Ireland.
Izar played in Séraphine Okemba for the opening try, which coincided with the early injury-enforced departure of Anna McGann. Okemba then reached over to make it 10-0 in the fourth minute.
As Ireland struggled to get out of their own half, Okemba and Izar used turnover ball to send Chloe Jacquet over for the third French try, which also went unconverted.
King unfortunately lacked support on a solo break past halfway, and with France's swarming defence continuing to force Irish errors, Ciofani slipped out of a tackle to widen the margin to 22 points.
Farrell McCabe and Burns combined to tackle Yolaine Yengo into touch, but Ireland could not prevent a fifth French score - and a 29-0 defeat in the end - despite the best efforts of Flood.
The Ireland skipper retrieved her own kick through and looked to create an opening near halfway, only for Gorman to be hit hard in a tackle, and Joanna Grisez shrugged off Farrell McCabe to go in under the posts.