THEIR best ever season on the HSBC International Sevens Tour means Ireland’s women have given themselves a fantastic opportunity to gain automatic qualification for Paris 2024, more than a year in advance. The top four from the global rugby Sevens series automatically qualify OR top five if that includes the host nation (who get a bye). That is exactly the current situation, with Ireland currently fifth (52 points) behind New Zealand (78), Australia (66), USA (66) and France (52), with Great Britain and Fiji (36 points each) both 12 points adrift of them.
An Olympic debut is visible on that horizon but, with three stops left on the world tour (Vancouver March 3-5), Hong Kong (March 31-April 2) and Toulouse (May 12-14)) they’re not over the line yet and remain cautious. “We’ve never been in a position before to even dream of qualifying through the main series so it is very exciting,” captain Lucy Mulhall admits. Eager to avoid the heartbreak they suffered when they didn’t make it through the secondary qualification process for Tokyo 2020, Aiden McNulty’s side laid down big markers last year with two podium finishes – silver in Seville and bronze in Canada. Now consistency is the key; opening with sixth place in Dubai and fourth in every tournament since (Capetown, Hamilton and Sydney), making qualification a real possibility even before they reach the final leg in Toulouse. Where has this improvement and consistency come from? “We really wanted to go through the quickest (qualification) route so we worked out, before the season, that if you are consistently in the top four you’ll put yourself in a great position to qualify,” Mulhall explains. “After the first two tournaments we felt ‘we have a real shot here at getting it done first-time around’ but we’re also very aware still that we’re the team that anyone can catch because the top three have broken well clear.”
Like everyone else in high performance sport they are constantly seeking marginal gains, targeting tactics and technical elements like scrums and re-starts this year. But they have also worked on their ‘team’ philosophy and been aided in that by a recent Team Ireland medallist. “We realised a lot of the growth we needed was from the shoulders up so we’ve become smarter rugby players but also worked a lot on our mental skills and goal setting, things that really help stop fear taking over when you’re striving for something as big as Olympic qualification,” Mulhall reveals. “We had Annalise Murphy in with us before the last two tournaments. That was so invaluable, to hear her speak about seeing the opportunity in things rather than fearing failure. Now we speak out about fears if we have them and have learned, as a team. to support one another through them.” The women’s Sevens also have strong guiding principles and collective power, before personal ego, is a big one. “Our team values sit within our concept of HEART, where each letter stands for a value: Hard work, Excellence, Accountability, Respect and Team. “A lot of it is around trying to create this home for women’s rugby Sevens in Ireland, trying to put it on the map. That gives us a great collective goal rather than an individual one. We started delving into how we can become tighter knit as a group and, equally, do extraordinary things together.
“When you get a group of high performing people together they can go two ways; either on individual journeys or get together as a collective,” she observes. “We decided there’s a lot more power in us as a team as we try to do what’s never been done before for Irish women’s Sevens. That’s been really important in empowering and motivating us.”
