Ireland’s men’s sevens journey ends with defeat to Fiji.
Gavin Cooney reports from the Stade de France, Paris EVEN ON A Parisien night as suffused with magic as this, Ireland bargained for too much.
But at half-time Ireland could dare to think the night’s sense of insubordination had come for them too. Having fallen behind within 75 seconds, Ireland rallied to lead 10-7 at the break, thanks to a couple of tries from Chay Mullins. Then it got even better, when the outstanding Zac Ward managed to contort his body to avoid falling into touch while plopping the ball down across the line.
Advertisement The Irish angst was at odds with what proved to be a fizzing, anarchic night. What is it with the Stade de France and quarter-finals? Perhaps his team mates were by now more acclimatised to the 69,000-capacity crowd, but they looked liberated without their superstar. All of a sudden confidence and conviction returned to the French handling, and they set about carving Argentina apart, taking a scarcely-believable 21-0 lead into the break.
Ireland cannot say the same, but their original sin was in running into Fiji in the first place. Victory in the earlier pool game against New Zealand would have meant a last-eight tie with South Africa, but instead they let slip a game they held in a vice-like grip for seven minutes. Ireland led 12-0 at half-time, but Andrew Knewstub’s conversion of Ngarohi McGarvey-Black’s last-minute try condemning Ireland to an agonising 14-12 defeat.
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