Ireland Women got off to the perfect start at the World Rugby Sevens Series in Toulouse as they bid for automatic qualification for the Olympic Games.
The team entered the final event in fifth place in the standings, which is enough to get them to France next year.
They made an ideal start in their opening match-up against hosts France, running in four tries in an exceptional first-half, and finished up 27-7 winners.
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (2), Lucy Mulhall and Megan Burns all crossed the whitewash to give Allan Temple Jones' charges a 22-0 lead at the break.
Railway Union flyer Murphy Crowe completed her hat-trick at the start of the second half and a late Séraphine Okemba try was only consolation for the French side.
Ireland then took on Australia on Friday evening, where they went down on a 33-12 scoreline.
Lucy Mulhall and Stacey Flood touched down for the Irish tries.
However, the Australians showed their class with four unanswered second-half tries, keeping themselves at the top of Pool B and staying unbeaten at Stade Ernest Wallon alongside New Zealand, Fiji and Great Britain.
Ireland's final Pool B game is against Brazil on Saturday at 9.43am (Irish time). A win there should be enough to claim a quarter-final berth.
We're up and running in Toulouse! 💫#Ireland7s | @TritonLake
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) May 12, 2023
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Ireland men opened their campaign with a 14-12 win over Samoa before losing to Australia, 12-5, in their second Pool D match.
They face Japan on Saturday at 10.37am.
