The Ireland Women’s Sevens squad will kick off their preparation for the World Cup Sevens in 2013 by participating in the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series in China next year.
Ireland is one of a number of teams invited to participate in the tournaments planned for USA, China and Netherlands. The invited teams will have the opportunity to play against the six core teams with preparation for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 in Moscow very much part of their plans.
The 12-team tournaments already include Australia, Canada, England, Netherlands, New Zealand and USA but the six invited teams for the three remaining rounds are:
USA (Houston), February 1-2: Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago
China (Guangzhou), March 30-31: China, South American RWC Sevens 2013 qualifier*, Fiji, Japan, Ireland, Tunisia
Netherlands (Amsterdam), May 17-18: China, South American RWC Sevens 2013 qualifier*, France, Russia, South Africa, Spain
Ireland qualified for the World Cup Sevens in 2013 after an intensive training and qualifying programme last summer saw them finish in the top 5 in the last qualifying tournament which also took place in Moscow.
Captained by Claire Molloy, winner of the Guinness Rugby Writers Award this year, the rapid progress of the girls in green and the improvements made during that training and playing programme show they have the potential to mix it with the top Sevens sides in Europe and beyond.
Boosted by wins in a number of invitational competitions and the qualifiers in Ghent, Belgium, they headed to Moscow knowing that a top five finish at the qualifying tournament would be enough to book their place at the World Cup this season.
The inclusion of Ireland in the China round of the IRB World Sevens Series will form part of an overall programme for the panel as they aim to peak for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow in June, 2013.
Ireland Women’s Sevens Team Manager Gemma Crowleybelieved the panel had a wonderful opportunity to test themselves against some of the top nations in sevens rugby. “The panel really progressed in a short space of time last year when we went through the qualifying process and the goal is to continue that progression this year before we hit the World cup in June next year. There will be a number of camps and other tournaments that that we will be playing in over the next six months, but the Sevens Series tournament offers a real step up in intensity for the panel and gives us a real chance to continue to build our experience levels.”
