The national side will be competing to earn a spot at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

The tournament will take place from June 19th to June 20th in Stade Louis II.

Head coach Anthony Eddy selected a 14-man squad for the tournament that is filled with experience.

He spoke about his selections after the announcement on Friday.

#Ireland7s

The Ireland squad for next week's 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗥𝘂𝗴𝗯𝘆 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗴𝗲 has been named, with Anthony Eddy announcing an experienced 14-player panel for Monaco

Full details: https://t.co/S9QJn3n1JK#IrishRugby #ShoulderToShoulder @TritonLake pic.twitter.com/kzyL4Ksu33

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) June 11, 2021

Ireland’s most-capped sevens player Harry McNulty will return to the side.

La Giltinis, McNulty’s club, granted the Major League Rugby player the opportunity to play international level sevens this summer.

McNulty comes back into a side that has been through the highs and lows of recent years together.

Billy Dardis captains the side once again as he tries to take the team to the Olympics.

Furthermore, two uncapped players are part of the squad.

Gavin Mullin and Aaron Sexton will earn their first caps this weekend after being with the squad for an extended period.

Eddy also picked top try-scorer Jordan Conroy.

The Tullamore speedster will be a dangerous offensive weapon for the Irish and will want to extend his try-scoring record.

The outstanding Terry Kennedy is also part of the 14-man squad.

Anthony Eddy’s side will begin the tournament in Pool A alongside Samoa, Tonga, Zimbabwe and Mexico, per Irish Rugby.

The team will play Zimbabwe, Tonga and Mexico on June 19th and Samoa on June 20th.

Games beyond the group stage will also take place on June 20th.

Every side in Pool A will be gunning for their first appearance at the Olympic games.

Sevens heavyweights Samoa is the toughest challenge in Pool A for Anthony Eddy’s side on paper.

The Samoans came closer than Ireland to qualification in 2016 but fell to the same foe in Spain at the final hurdle.

They will want to right the wrongs of 2016 and reach the Olympics for the first time.

Led by the legendary Brian Lima, the side will be hungry for success after a year out.

France provides competition for the Irish if they are to get through the pool stage.

The France national sevens team has already played at the Olympic level in 2016 and will want to do so again.

Jérôme Daret will want to take his side to Tokyo this summer.

Ireland may have to get past Daret’s side if they are to reach their goal.

Olympic qualification would be a massive achievement for the Irish sevens programme, but can it be done?

The post Preview: Ireland At The World Rugby Sevens Repechage appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

A meeting is scheduled tonight (Thursday) of the GAA management committee and this will see them rubber stamp plans in terms of new fixture plans. Further to this a press conference will be held by the GAA on Friday which will clarify these plans and details. RTE Sport report that the GAA have made some changes around the All-Ireland U20 Hurling series.

RTE state that the two last rounds of the National Football League will be played in mid October. They also report that the 2020 senior football championship will be played on a straight knockout basis. This would mean know back door for a team if they lose. The main reason why the back door qualifiers would likely not be used is because the championship would likely have to be played. The hurling championship will see a different scenario altogether. Teams will have a second bite at the cherry and will go into a qualifier round. RTE Sport say that “The system is set to mirror the format used up to 2018”.

The hurling championship will get underway at the end of October. Kilkenny and Wexford who both will be in the Leinster championship will both receive a bye to the Leinster semi-final stages having both reached the provincial decider in 2019 in which Wexford won for the first time since 2004.

In terms of the under age championships. The minor championship will be played on a knockout basis in both codes. The U20 Hurling championship will also be with no back door. It is expected this will also resume in mid October.

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RTE Sport say that unions can apply to use one or more of the temporary law amendments in line with the World Rugby protocol on play to guidance. The World Health Organisation have supported the new laws and were considered by a law group which consisted of coaches, players, medics, match officials and law specialists on the back of analysis of 60 games. World Rugby said in a statement the trials will “provide limits to scrum options with no scrum resets, limits for players joining rucks and mauls, time to play the ball at the base of scrums and rucks reduced from five to three seconds and only one movement permitted for a maul.”

Bill Beaumont said that the health and well-being of the rugby family is paramount. He said, “We have extensively evaluated the perceived risk areas within the game in partnership with our unions”. World Rugby have also that contact exposure could be resumed between the tight 5 by more than 30%. They also said ruck exposure will decrease by 25% and maul exposure by around 50%.

In addition to the 10 laws outlined above, hygiene measures will also be in place. Hand and face sanitisation will be required, before and after games. Furthermore, the rugby ball will also be washed, before, during and after a game. Teams will be required to change their kits at half time. Teams will be asked not to huddle and celebrate in terms of close contact. Spitting and nose clearance is also not recommended. World Rugby have said that scrum practice should be done by machine rather than team mates. High transmission training such as scrummaging and mauling should be avoided for 48 hours after a game. The full list of these hygiene measures can be found here

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