The Ireland Women’s Rugby Sevens squad will be heading to the Paris Olympic Games next year, having secured the fourth and final automatic qualification berth through the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
The team, captained by Lucy Mulhall, defeated Fiji 10-5 at the HSBC France Sevens in Toulouse on Sunday morning, with record try scorer Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe touching down twice during the first half.
The result ensures Ireland finished fifth in this season’s overall Women’s World Series standings – on 74 points, six ahead of both Fiji and Great Britain – and join champions New Zealand, Australia, the USA and hosts France as the fifth team to book their place at next summer’s Games in Paris.
This is the latest success for the National Sevens Programme, following on from the Ireland Men’s qualification for Tokyo 2020, and the succession of World Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens podium finishes.
The Olympic Rugby Sevens competition runs from July 24-30, 2024 at the Stade de France in Paris.
“A huge amount of hard work has gone on behind the scenes for the last number of years to reach this historic milestone and it is testament to the dedication, talent and resilience of the players that they have qualified for the Olympics,” said IRFU CEO Kevin Potts.
“Olympic qualification was a stated aim for the IRFU in this cycle and I would like to pay tribute to all in our High-Performance department, and everyone connected with the team for this seismic day, not just for rugby, but for Irish sport in general.”
Ireland, Fiji and Great Britain were all in the running to claim the final berth, but with all three teams falling at the quarter-final stage this weekend and GB dropping out of the race, it meant Ireland and Fiji went head-to-head in a Paris 2024 shootout this morning.
Not only do the Ireland Women qualify for the Olympics for the first time but they become the first Irish rugby team to do so automatically through the World Series.
The Irish Rugby Sevens Programme is sponsored by Investment specialists Triton Lake.
