The Ireland Men's Sevens team closed out the regular season as silver medallists at the Singapore Sevens, having run New Zealand very close in a 17-14 Cup final defeat.
Trailing by a dozen points at one stage in very humid conditions, James Topping's side bounced back with tries from Gavin Mullin and captain Harry McNulty to raise hopes of a last-gasp victory.
While disappointed to fall short against the All Blacks Sevens, it was still the Ireland Men's best performance at a HSBC SVNS Series event since their silver medal success in both Toulouse and Dubai in 2022.
With three bronzes also won in 2024 and a second place finish overall, behind League winners Argentina, Ireland's impressive consistency will see them proceed with plenty of confidence to the Grand Final in Madrid (May 31-June 2), when the 2024 HSBC SVNS champions will be crowned.
Earlier on, Billy Dardis was their golden point hero as his extra-time penalty, coolly slotted over in the 16th minute, decided a gripping semi-final. They pipped familiar rivals Great Britain, emerging as 15-12 winners.
Meanwhile, a hat-trick of tries from stand-in captain Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe saw the Ireland Women overcome Japan 19-17, winning a keenly-contested 5th place play-off. It is their highest finish on the circuit since striking gold in Perth in January.
Both Ireland teams (sponsored by TritonLake) had already qualified for the Grand Final. The top eight finishers in the Men's and Women's Series advance to a winner-takes-all battle in the Spanish capital.
You can watch all of the HSBC SVNS Series matches for free on RugbyPass TV or on TNT Sports, while there is coverage of Ireland's progress in Singapore across the @Ireland7s social media channels, and in our Ireland Sevens Hub.
IRELAND Match Tracker – HSBC SVNS Series, Singapore:
Friday, May 3 –- Ireland Women 5 Canada 0 - Match Centre
- Ireland Men 19 Great Britain 5 - Match Centre
- Ireland Women 12 New Zealand 31 - Match Centre
- Ireland Men 7 USA 10 - Match Centre
- Ireland Women 25 Spain 7 - Match Centre
- Ireland Men 19 Fiji 26 - Match Centre
- Ireland Women 14 Australia 24 - Match Centre
- Ireland Men 21 Argentina 5 - Match Centre
- Ireland Men 15 Great Britain 12 (after extra-time) - Match Centre
- Ireland Women 19 Japan 17 - Match Centre
- Ireland Men 14 New Zealand 17 - Match Centre