The Ireland Men’s Sevens team will play the first leg of the curtailed 2021 World Rugby Sevens series in Vancouver this weekend.
Anthony Eddy’s side will play their first games since the Tokyo Olympics in July and a rotated squad will be at his disposal.
Eddy will use the upcoming tournaments in Canada to explore the depth of his Ireland Men’s Sevens squad as players are given the opportunity to stake a claim on the World Series stage.
Three Olympians are named in the squad – Bryan Mollen, Mark Roche and Gavin Mullin – with Mollen set to captain the squad.
Ireland will face Great Britain and invitational sides Hong Kong and Jamaica in Pool B in Vancouver from September 18-19 – Play-offs are scheduled for September 19.
Liam Turner and Seán Cribbin also add experience to the squad, with Turner having racked up 16 appearances on last year’s World Series.
Ireland U20 stars Shane Jennings, Chris Cosgrave and Ben Moxham will work with the sevens setup for the upcoming tournaments.
Moxham, along with Conor Phillips of Munster and Ed Kelly – the younger brother of Olympian Jack – have been part of the National Sevens programme for the last 12 months.
They featured during the IRFU HPC International 7s tournament in June, with the back-to-back tournaments in Canada presenting them with the platform to showcase their talents at the start of a new Olympic cycle.
Commenting on his selection, Eddy said: “It is great to have the HSBC World Series back up and running and expose some new players to the quality of this competition.
“The Canada tournaments provide a great opportunity for some players to put their hand up for future tournaments and the 2022 Series.
“We have some experience in the group and also players new to the World Series, so I am keen to see how some of the new players perform in this environment.”
Ireland will open their HSBC Canada Sevens campaign against Hong Kong on Saturday 18th September (5:44 pm Irish time), before going head-to-head with Jamaica (8:55 pm) and Great Britain (12:28 am) later in the day.
The Vancouver tournament will be followed by a second HSBC Canada Sevens event in Edmonton the following weekend, on 25th-26th September. The two rounds in Canada form the 2021 Series, with the Series title awarded in Edmonton.
Ireland Squad For Vancouver 7s
Niall Comerford (UCD RFC/Leinster)
Chris Cosgrave (UCD RFC/Leinster)
Seán Cribbin (Suttonians)
Shane Jennings (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht)
Sean Kearns (Irish Sevens)
Ed Kelly (Dublin University)
Steven Kilgallen (UCD RFC)
Bryan Mollen (Blackrock College)(Captain)
Ben Moxham (Ballymena/Ulster)
Gavin Mullin (UCD RFC)
Conor Phillips (Young Munster/Munster)
Mark Roche (Lansdowne)
Liam Turner (Dublin University/Leinster)
Where To Watch
The Vancouver 7s will be available to watch live on the World Rugby Youtube channel. The stream is scheduled to begin at 4:30 pm.
