The rugby Sevens team will be the first of the Ireland athletes into action at the Paris Olympics, kicking-off today (4.30pm) – two days ahead of the Opening Ceremony!
Make no mistake either, the Harry McNulty-captained 12 strong squad have their eyes firmly set on a medal.
Hosts France (2/1) have been installed as gold medal favourites ahead of Argentina (3/1), New Zealand (7/2) and Fiji (5/1) with Ireland next up at 11/1 to win and 15/8 to make the podium.
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It’s a decent punt on a team who’s competitive World Rugby Sevens season saw them make one final (Singapore) and a further four semi-finals (Cape Town, Perth, Los Angeles, Hong Kong) from seven events.
Moreover, and given they have recently added some turbo-boost as XVs star Hugo Keenan has been added to their ranks they have, at the very least, a sniper’s chance of a medal as eight of the twelve teams across three pools qualifying for the last eight.
If Ireland can get a decent quarter-final draw following meeting South Africa, Japan and New Zealand in the opening pool matches or pick off a ‘big gun’ at the quarter-final, a medal is within reach.
It’s an enticing prospect and McNulty can’t to it soon enough, the ‘early’ start – some two days out from the Opening Ceremony – suits him fine
“I like the idea,” says the Bahrain-born, Rockwell College educated Ireland captain, “some sports are at the end so you’re waiting and you can kind of maybe get lost in the whole Olympics.
“As it is where we literally come in, nothing’s started and we’re the first sport done out of everything.
“We kind of get to compete in the Olympics and then we get three days afterwards when we’re allowed to stay in Paris, at the Team Ireland house.
“Because we’re still in the Olympics and have the accreditation we can do all of the Olympic Village stuff for those three days after, just go around and actually enjoy it more so than if you were competing, trying to get ready but also enjoying the Olympic bit.”
The addition of Keenan has come as a welcome boost, possibly the world’s best XV’s full-back, a clear first-choice for the 2025 Lions tour to Australia, a Six Nations Grand Slam winner, truth is he actually cut his international teeth with the Sevens squad 2017-2020.
Says Mcnulty: “He’s a total professional. His attitude to the whole thing was that he wanted to learn, wanted to get stuck in and give everything that he could to the programme.
“He would always have that open mindset in terms of asking questions around whether what he was doing was right or wrong and he knew pretty much all of the calls by the time he came into the programme so he was just showcasing that he’s really just here to be a part of the team.
“As captain of the team, if anyone is coming in, that’s what you really look for in a player, someone who’s looking to add as much as they can, even if, say, he didn’t get a call to play in the Olympics.
“That he would come in with the right mindset but obviously Hugo has got that call so that’s a great benefit to the whole thing.”
There was comfort in the idea Keenan, having been in the squad previously, didn’t have to be shown any basics.
“I think it was pretty seamless. He was previously involved in the programme so he would have had some sort of idea what we were about.
“Obviously it’s changed a lot since then too with lots of different bits going on, maybe he understood fully from our interview what he was getting himself into, the fact that he’s played at the highest level with the men’s XV team and they’re so process-driven in there.
“The fifteen-a-side don’t actually get as much time in camp as I would have thought.
“Us being in camp and seeing them come in for two weeks and then they’re off to South Africa so you can obviously tell that they put in a lot of hard work outside of training so he’s really just kind of brought that in.”
Keenan has been specifically added to dove-tail with the team’s top try-scorer Jordan Conroy, to utilise his electric turn of pace – and, yes, his reputation – to distract some of defensive attention from Conroy.
“Hugo’s being with the backs, he’s obviously had more dealings with them in terms of where he needs to be, and the moves that he’s running, and all that kind of stuff.
“But even just in general play, if I see that maybe there was an area that he could make it easier for himself or vice versa, he might come to me and ask ‘Oh was that the right thing that I was meant to do there?’.
“So we have had open conversations about it, it’s always very easy to chat with Hugo and he always wants to take it on because he knows that’s going to help him play and help everybody else be better as well. He’s definitely taken the right mindset to everything.”
Ireland are in Pool A with New Zealand, South Africa and Japan, Pool B comprises Argentina, Australia, Samoa and Kenya which will mean a lot of the early focus will be on Pool C with Fiji, France, USA and Uruguay.
“There were quite a lot of tough pools throughout the season anyway so that kind of helps prepare us for having New Zealand and South Africa, rather than just getting a couple of easy pools in the season and then ‘of course we get a hard pool in the Olympics’.
“Where it’s just kind of been hard the whole season where we had to fight a lot in those pool games.
“It is what it is. Every team can beat every team so you just have to make sure you’re on when it counts.”
Ireland are ready to give it their best shot.
“Yeah I’d say just having the full season together as a squad was the biggest thing,” he says of a tight-knit unit.
“There might have been a few changes just depending on different series, and how the tournaments were laid out, the days that we had and where the training sessions were going to be, in terms of how the management would have had to change the schedule around.
“So I think it was a good opportunity for them to see ‘Oh if we’ve gym on this day rather than that day, or do this gym session rather than that session, or this training style rather than that style’ leading into the week, just kind of seeing how that went for the tournaments.
“They probably got a lot out of that, whereas it was pretty hard to back it up after a really good tournament. We’ve had some good successes.
“We had a really good World Cup series altogether and it’s just an accumulation of things which can hopefully all add up and make it a better experience for us.”
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