As you can see by the Vine clip above there was a great cheer from the Belfield Bowl crowd as the Irish team took the field for their first match in the World #Womens7s qualifier this lunchtime...
The stand filled up even more as the afternoon went on but the steady drizzle probably scared off a few punters. Still it was a superb occasion with 3 sets of six matches and quality rugby throughout.
It was also great to see "non-traditional" rugby nations like Colombia, China and Mexico taking part and while there were a few "cricket scores" on the day overall the standard of the sevens code on show was.
A couple of those big scorelines were posted by Anthony Eddy's Irish side as they overpowered Mexico and Hong Kong 64-0 and 50-0 respectively but for their third and final pool match against the South African outfit they weren't having things all their own way.
The Bokke were a whole lot stingier on defence and while we did eventually find a way to break through in the second half, it wasn't without leaking three tries down the other end - I thought a knockon was missed for the first try and the "tumble" method of finishing the third was unnecessary but that was probably just my green goggles!
Women's Sevens Dublin - Cup Quarter-Finals:
10.30am - South Africa v Hong Kong
10.52am - Ireland v China
11.14am - Japan v Wales
11.36am - Netherlands v Brazil
Cup Semi-Finals:
2.20pm - South Africa or Hong Kong v Ireland or China
2.42pm - Japan or Wales v Netherlands or Brazil
All in all it was a great atmosphere...the crowd made themselves heard no matter which countries were taking part and whenever a try was scored, not only did that well known bit from the Fratelli's "Chelsea Dagger" play out over the speakers, but a ball-girl had to bring a new ball out to the centre circle only to sheepishly jog back to the touchline as her mates caught here eye trying to make her smile (always succeeding).
Definitely an event worth a visit - even if you can't make the full day you can be strategic with the schedule and still have a good time. There is of course food and drink stalls present plus some fun and games for the little ones.
Best of luck to the girls tomorrow in the playoffs...spots in the World Series are at stake and with an amazing array of talent like Jenny Murphy, Alison Miller and Lucy Mulhall (to name but 3) we can definitely do it!
Bravo to the IRFU and all involved in staging it (especially the free ponchos...they were very much needed!) JLP
