The Ireland Men’s Sevens team qualified for next year’s Paris Olympics with a 26-12 victory over Great Britain at the European Games qualifier in Krakow.
Jordan Conroy scored a pair of second half-tries to seal the win.
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Following their maiden appearance at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Ireland Men will once again compete at sport’s showpiece event in Paris next summer, joining the Ireland Women’s Sevens who made history in May by qualifying for their first Olympics.
Ireland Men become the seventh team to qualify for Paris 2024, joining hosts France, New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji, Australia and Uruguay, with the remaining six spots to be determined by regional qualifying tournaments and next year’s World Rugby Repechage.
James Topping’s side secured European Games glory – and the golden ticket to Paris – courtesy of a 26-12 victory over close rivals Great Britain at the Henryk Reyman Stadium this evening.
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Advertisement Ireland celebrate winning gold at the European Games and qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Photo: Inpho/Laszlo Geczo
Billy Dardis, World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year; Terry Kennedy, and Jordan Conroy (two) all crossed for Ireland, completing an unbeaten tournament for the Harry McNulty-led side.
Ireland were in clinical form to progress through to the knockout stages as Pool A winners, defeating Poland, Italy and German before overcoming Belgium in the quarter-finals and Portugal in the last four earlier today.
Afterwards Irish captain Harry McNulty said: “I can’t put it into words. Just the effort from everybody involved; teammates, backroom staff, everyone at home that didn’t get the opportunity to come over and play here, the travelling support – I think there was nearly more Irish than Polish here at one stage.”
He added: “It’s fantastic, it’s something that we’ve been working on for so long. Basically the last two seasons have merged into one because Covid pushed a couple of tournaments so it’s been like a way way longer season than we’re used to, and we just had to keep digging in and working hard for eachother, and to get the result is fantastic.”
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