Ireland Men Hit Half-Century Mark In Hamburg Sevens Opener

Dylan O’Grady touched down twice and the rest of the scores were shared out between Hugo Lennox, Aaron O’Sullivan, Zac Ward, Chay Mullins and replacements Bryan Mollen and Niall Comerford.

Sam Myers is standing in as coach for this tournament in the absence of James Topping as the Ireland Men, buoyed by their European Games gold and Olympic qualification, look to finish the season with more silverware.

Having won the opening event in the Algarve last month, Ireland are currently top of the Rugby Europe Sevens Championship Series standings (on 20 points) heading into the deciding leg in Hamburg.

Tougher tests await tomorrow when they wrap up the pool stages against hosts Germany (1.02pm local time/12.02pm Irish time) and Spain (3.56pm local time/2.56pm Irish time), before the Cup quarter-finals take place in the evening session.

You can keep up to date with the fixtures, results and pool tables on the Rugby Europe website. All the games can be watched live on Rugby Europe TV.

Skerries man Lennox led the team out for their Pool A opener against Czechia and also claimed the first try. He sprinted clear from halfway after Ward had broken a tackle and provided the scoring pass.

Winger O’Grady then retrieved a long kick downfield from Czechia, with the top seeds managing to promptly carry back into the opposition half before Mullins gave O’Sullivan a 30-metre run-in to the left of the posts. Lennox converted for a 14-0 lead.

With Mullins running strongly and quick ruck ball in plentiful supply, big Ballynahinch forward Ward cut inside a defender and broke through another tackle to add a third converted try.

Ward made his mark again on the stroke of half-time, stealing a lineout and winning a turnover penalty. Lennox’s bouncing pass evaded Sean Cribbin but Mullins scooped it up to charge clear and score from 60 metres out.

Turning around with a 28-point advantage, Mullins showed his strength to bump off a tackle and pass the ball wide for UCD speedster O’Grady to get on the scoresheet.

It was a quick-fire double for O’Grady who used a strong hand-off to make it 40-0, the conversion coming from replacement Ed Kelly who got some minutes under his belt in the scrum half position and as the team’s kicker.

Continuing to dominate possession from restarts, good hands from Kelly sent fellow replacement Comerford breaking up into the Czech 22. O’Grady and Cribbin delivered the key passes to put Mollen striding over from the left wing.

An eighth and final try arrived inside the last minute, with captain Harry McNulty and Mollen’s counter-rucking allowing Comerford to crash over after Czechia had been pinned back close to their own line.

The Ireland team wore black armbands as a mark of respect to Greig Oliver, father of Ireland Under-20 scrum half Jack, St. Michael’s College pupils Max Wall and Andrew O’Donnell, and former Ireland coach Roly Meates. All four men sadly passed away in recent days.

IRELAND MEN’S SEVENS Squad (Rugby Europe Sevens Championship Series – Leg 2, Hamburg Sevens, Germany, Friday, July 7-Sunday, July 9, 2023):

Niall Comerford (UCD RFC/Leinster)
Sean Cribbin (Suttonians RFC)
Billy Dardis (Terenure College RFC)
Ed Kelly (Dublin University FC)
Hugo Lennox (Skerries RFC)
Matthew McDonald (IQ Rugby)
Harry McNulty (UCD RFC) (capt)
Bryan Mollen (Lansdowne FC)
Chay Mullins (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht/IQ Rugby)
Dylan O’Grady (UCD RFC)
Aaron O’Sullivan (UCD RFC)
Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC)

IRELAND MEN’S SEVENS Schedule – Hamburg Sevens:

Friday, July 7 –

POOL A:

IRELAND 50 CZECHIA 0, Sportpark Steinwiesenweg, Hamburg
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Hugo Lennox, Aaron O’Sullivan, Zac Ward, Chay Mullins, Dylan O’Grady 2, Bryan Mollen, Niall Comerford; Cons: Hugo Lennox 4, Ed Kelly
Czechia: –
HT: Ireland 28 Czechia 0

Watch Match Video

Team: Aaron O’Sullivan, Matthew McDonald, Zac Ward, Hugo Lennox, Sean Cribbin, Chay Mullins, Dylan O’Grady.

Subs used: Niall Comerford, Ed Kelly, Bryan Mollen, Harry McNulty (capt), Billy Dardis.

Saturday, July 8 –

POOL A:

IRELAND v GERMANY, Sportpark Steinwiesenweg, Hamburg, 1.02pm local time/12.02pm Irish time

IRELAND v SPAIN, Sportpark Steinwiesenweg, Hamburg, 3.56pm local time/2.56pm Irish time

PLAY-OFFS

Sunday, July 9 –

PLAY-OFFS