After back-to-back victories Friday over Sweden and Germany and a draw today (June 10) with Spain followed by a quaterfinal win over Czechia, Ireland 7s topped their pool and are through to the semi-finals in the Women’s 7s Championship in Algarve, Portugal.
Ireland will play France tomorrow at 11:36 a.m.
Ireland opened the tournament strongly with a 27-0 victory over Sweden, with Beibhinn Parsons scoring three tries within the first ten minutes. Eve Higgins and Megan Burns also scored tries, and Kate Farrell McCabe kicked the conversion.
The win over Sweden was Clare Gorman’s first international fixture. Later that day she’d have more cause to celebrate when she scored a try in Ireland’s 43-5 victory over Germany.
The second win of the day saw yet another hat-trick from Parsons, as well as tries from Farrell McCabe, Claire Boles, and Vicky Elmes Kinlan. 4 conversions were kicked by Eve Higgins.
Germany’s lone try came from Steffi Gruber.
Beibhinn Parsons unsurprisingly scored a try in the 12-12 draw with Spain, as did captain Stacey Flood.
⚡️ Beibhinn Parsons flying down the line for @IrishRugby! pic.twitter.com/1Aa7tqwzGL
— Rugby Europe (@rugby_europe) June 10, 2023
The second day of the tournament ended with a 22-5 quarterfinal victory over Czechia. Emily Lane was the first to score a try for Ireland, coming from halfway. She was soon followed by 19-year-old Erin King, Clare Gorman, and Eve Higgins, with the conversion kicked by Higgins.
Julie Dolezilova scored the try for Czechia.
With Ireland’s Olympic qualification certain, Head Coach Allan Temple-Jones has been able to give some of the newer members of his squad, like Clare Gorman debuting this tournament, more playing time to build experience and depth, while regulars like Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe and typical captain Lucy Mulhall take a well-deserved break.
Speaking on the first day of the tournament, Parsons said “We feel really good… We’re giving loads of girls good game time, so we’re really happy that we’re building.”