Ireland Women's 7s team bagged a bronze medal finish at the Rugby Europe Sevens Championship Series (Leg 1) Algarve Sevens in Portugal this past weekend.
After back-to-back victories on Friday over Sweden and Germany, a draw on Saturday (June 10) with Spain followed by a quarter-final win over Czechia, Ireland 7s topped their pool and progressed to the semi-finals to face France.
Ireland's first tournament defeat took place against France, who knocked the team out of cup contention after winning 0-27. The Irish would battle for bronze against Poland on Sunday (11 June).
Ireland Women's Sevens bounced back strongly on Sunday to secure a bronze medal finish at the Algarve Sevens 🟢#Ireland7s | @TritonLake
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) June 12, 2023
Their fourth victory of the weekend saw them end the opening leg of the Rugby Europe Sevens Championship Series on a positive note. A continuous run of tries from Erin King, Kate Farrell McCabe, Béibhinn Parsons and Clare Gorman saw them get the better of Poland - Parsons also accumulated eight tries, while Gorman contributed three contributing to the 20-7 scoreline.
With captain Lucy Mulhall and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe both rested, coach Allan Temple-Jones tested out some combinations, handed Stacey Flood the captaincy role, and gave valuable game-time to some of the squad’s younger players.
Speaking after the Poland game, Flood said: “It’s good to finish the last game on a high with bronze, but where this team wants to be is in that Cup final. Happy to get the win there, though.
“Hopefully we keep building in Hamburg (at the second leg) and we keep getting those wins and getting those performances in.
“We’ve really enjoyed the tournament here. It was a good atmosphere, good weather, great crowd, so it makes it better to play in.”
The Ireland Women will compete at the European Games in Krakow, Poland from June 25-27. This will be the first time that Sevens has been included at the multi-sport event before the Rugby Europe Series concludes in the German city of Hamburg (July 7-9).
