Hong Kong Sevens: Ireland aiming to ‘inspire people at home’, as season’s surprise packages claim third
- Men in green lose their semi-final to France, but hit back with a convincing third-place playoff victory over Australia
- Irish close gap on series leaders Argentina to eight points, with one regular leg remaining, and target Olympic glory
Ireland celebrated the five-year anniversary of earning their core world series status by slaying traditional heavyweights Australia 14-5 at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens to bank a third bronze finish of the season.
Hugo Lennox scored two tries, which he converted himself, in two first-half minutes, as Australia struggled to contain an Irish side smarting from an off-colour display in their semi-final meeting with France.
Henry Palmer’s score at the end gave the scoreline a respectability that earlier seemed beyond the Aussies, shell-shocked following a heavy beating at the hands of eventual champions New Zealand in their last-four encounter.
Ireland overcame Hong Kong at the same venue five years previously to the day to gain their elite stripes. While the hosts were celebrating success in the Melrose Claymore tournament on Sunday, the Irish were cementing their position as one of the stories of this season.
The 16 points they gained in Hong Kong moved them to eight behind series leaders Argentina, who stumbled here, ahead of next month’s closing regular-season leg in Singapore.
“It is pretty remarkable how far our squad has come,” Lennox, whose nation established a sevens programme only a decade ago, told the Post.
“We want to inspire people at home, because a lot of them probably wouldn’t have known what sevens was five years ago.
“With the way we are playing, and how our women are playing, it has grown massively. More people are getting into the game.”
Lennox went over in the right corner after four minutes. His second try resulted from a grubber kick that mischievously evaded the hands of Australia’s James Turner as it bounced behind the line. Lennox exploited Turner’s misery to ground the ball and create daylight between the teams.
“We are knocking on the door at every tournament, and hunting down Argentina,” Lennox said.
“It is very fine margins [that decide tournaments], we have probably lacked a bit of discipline or control in certain parts of games, and you need it all to click to win.”
As he talked inside the Irish dressing room, a tattoo of the Olympic rings was visible on Lennox’s torso. Ireland went out at the group stage on their Games debut, but this enterprising, spirited team is a different proposition from the one that went to Tokyo three years ago.
“Succeeding at the Olympics is everyone’s ambition, and I think we are putting ourselves in a great spot going towards Paris,” Lennox said. “That is the goal at the end of the season.”
Australia were a husk of the side that scored 46 unanswered points against Canada and South Africa on Saturday.
Unable to lift themselves, barely three hours after their humbling by New Zealand, the Wallabies’ third-placed contest did at least provide an opportunity to hand a first start of the tournament to Michael Hooper.
Hong Kong Sevens: New Zealand teams do the double, again – day 3, as it happened
The test great, playing his first sevens rugby after crossing from the 15s code, was typically physical, but could not stem the Irish tide.
“That was the most game time I have had, and it felt good, I had more in the tank,” Hooper said.
“We handled the first two days pretty well, but today was not our day. I don’t think we performed near our best, we let in a few points, and did not really get our attack flowing.”
Hooper said the butterflies that accompanied his debut as a substitute on Friday were “more controllable knowing you will be out there on the first whistle”.
“You know you will be receiving or catching, so can prepare for it … then let it all fly,” he said.
Has Hooper caught the sevens bug? “Yes, I enjoyed that,” he said. “I want more time on the field, and I just want to improve.”
