The Ireland Men’s 7s will be one of the 15 core teams on next season’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens World Series as they defeated Hong Kong 28-7 in Sunday's final, having seen off Germany 19-10 earlier in the semis.
In front of a partisan, capacity crowd in Hong Kong, the Irish put last year’s disappointment of losing to Japan in the semi-finals to bed, with an assured performance against the tournament hosts.
Harry McNulty dived over the line after three minutes thanks to a deft off-load from Jordan Conroy.
Captain Billy Dardis, who had missed day one of the tournament due to a stomach bug, converted.
Greg O’Shea, whose grandfather emigrated to Limerick from Hong Kong in the early 1950s, was next to dot down, out-muscling the covering defence to stretch out for the whitewash.
Dardis again converted to put Ireland into a 14-0 lead at the break. Conroy crossed for his 10th try of the weekend at the start of the second-half, the Tullamore flyer who was awarded Player of the Tournament thanks to his tally across the six games.
Dardis again added the extras. The locals crossed for a try of their own on 13 minutes, but by then Ireland looked to be in the clear, and as Terry Kennedy broke free for his side’s fourth try, and as Dardis added the final two points, the men in green knew they had secured their place on next season’s series.
Speaking afterwards, Dardis said: "We're just delighted. To reflect on this, the last 16 to 24 months have been a long, hard road. At the end, we all just stood on the pitch, we couldn't move. We're just speechless, it's class.
"In previous years we may have underestimated this three-day tournament and how competitive it is. Every team was going to be desperate so it will be extra hard.
"If we can qualify for the Olympics in the summer, then that will be two boxes ticked."
From the basement to the penthouse!
— RugbyPlayersIreland (@RugbyPlayersIRE) April 7, 2019
Well done @IrishRugby, welcome to the @WorldRugby7s Series Circuit! ☘️ #IREM7s pic.twitter.com/j3VIXYpA6X
It seems one @IrishRugby legend in the crowd at the #HK7s is happy to see Ireland become a core team for 2020 on the #HSBC7s pic.twitter.com/3fOSXTCJYn
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) April 7, 2019
