Ireland: Fact file

Form guide

Ireland's men may not have won a round of SVNS 2024, but they finished second and were arguably the most consistent side overall with five top-four finishes and places in all seven quarter-finals, the only team to do so. Their silver in Singapore teed them up nicely for a shot at the Grand Final in Madrid but they could only finish fifth overall with two final knockout wins against Great Britain and South Africa.

The women's side finished seventh overall in the regular SVNS season but did capture their maiden title in Perth in January, recovering from a pool loss to New Zealand to beat Fiji, Great Britain and hosts Australia to strike gold. At the Madrid Grand Final they finished sixth. 

Star dust

Sevens commentator and reporter Rob Vickerman says: "Beaming with both personality and performance, Jordan Conroy lights up any pitch with his play and his smile. Terry Kennedy finished top try-scorer and the two often work in lethal tandem.

"In the women's team, Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe is a blockbuster stalwart, often seen crawling off the pitch having given everything. As fearless as she is committed."

Road to Paris 2024

Ireland's women booked their place at Paris 2024 by finishing in the top four places in the World Rugby Sevens Series 2023, excluding host nation France. The men's team missed out on that initial route but sealed their place at the next available opportunity by winning the European Games in Kraków, Poland. Ireland were clinical in pool play defeating Poland (66-0), Italy (58-7) and Germany (19-7) before overcoming Belgium at the quarter-final stage (26-12) and then Portugal (24-0) before beating Great Britain in the final 26-12.

Previous Olympics

Having chosen to opt in to international rugby sevens relatively late, neither Ireland side qualified for Rio 2016 but the men's team did qualify for Tokyo 2020 (played in 2021) where they finished third in their pool and did not progress to the medal matches.