The Irish Rugby Football Union has confirmed that it has re-established a Senior men’s Sevens squad and is embarking on an ambitious plan to qualify for next summer’s Rio Olympic Games.
A longer term ambition will be to re-establish a presence in the World Rugby Sevens World Series which last year culminated in Finals at Twickenham that drew an attendance of over 100,000.
The adapted version of the sport will receive a huge boost with its Olympic debut next year and it was a missing piece in the Irish Rugby picture that has now been completed.
The importance of being seen to be a player at every level of where the sport is developing will also play well and be an important factor when it comes to judging the bids to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, a factor that will not have escaped the Union as it advances plans on that front.
The process of selecting a panel of players to compete in two series’ of tournaments this summer began in January when 300 players were put forward for trials.
These initial talent identification and screening days were the starting point and the two panels have now been filtered down to 26 players.
The Road to Rio begins with the Rugby Europe Division C tournament in Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 6-7. The Irish side share Pool B with Turkey, Belarus and Montenegro.
The top four teams from this tournament will be promoted to Division B and compete in Croatia on June 20-21. The highest-ranked eligible team from Division B qualifies to participate in the Rugby Europe Olympic Repechage tournament which will take place in Lisbon on July 18-19.
The winner of the Lisbon tournament will then have the opportunity to compete in the World Olympic Repechage in 2016 to secure the last spot for Rio 2016.
Another Ireland squad, under the Ireland Wolfhounds name, will take part in the GB 7s Series starting on May 30 in Edinburgh, Scotland before moving to Coventry, England on June 6 and finishing in Colwyn Bay, Wales on June 13.
“We were really impressed with the interest and the talent that applied for our Men’s Sevens squad back in January,” With over 300 applicants, we had our work cut out to select just 26 players to take part in the upcoming events.
“We believe that this is a great opportunity for Irish rugby to develop a different pool of players in a different way,” said IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora.
“It is our ambition to be a part of the Sevens World Series by the end of 2017 whilst also having an outside chance for Olympic qualification in Rio in 2016.”
“This is an exciting time for the players, for Irish rugby and we know that every Irish fan will wish them well.”
It is not clear yet whether the team will carry existing branding from Three on team kits in the qualifiers and World Series games, or whether additional sponsorship is being sought to cover the cost of participation. Branding at the Olympic Games itself will not be possible under the guidelines of that tournament but the Sevens series itself is certainly an area that will be of interest to brands either already with a place in the sport or looking to develop one.
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