Irish men's sevens side storm into semi-final against Dupont's France

Ireland’s Zac Ward.

THE IRISH MEN’S sevens side have progressed to a semi-final meeting with Antoine Dupont’s France thanks to a 24-14 win over Argentina in Los Angeles.

Argentina are the leaders in the overall standings, with the defeat to Ireland their first in 18 games.

Advertisement

Ireland squeezed into the quarter-finals and had to hang tough once they got there, falling 14-5 behind. But yellow cards for Rodrigo Isgro and Matias Osadczuk offered Ireland an opportunity they seized.

Jordan Conroy went over for a converted try before replacement Mark Roche touched down in the 12th minute to give Ireland a three-point lead, to which they added another Conroy try.

Ireland advance to an all-European semi-final line-up, with Spain and Great Britain progressing to face each other in the last four. Ireland will face a France side featuring Antoine Dupont, with kick-off at 10.08pm tonight, Irish time.

Meanwhile, the Irish women’s team recovered from defeats to Australia and France to beat Japan 26-12 and progress to the quarter-finals.

Japan took an early lead and fought back to level at 12 points apiece, but closing scores from Eve Higgins and replacement Aoibheann Reilly ultimately proved vital for Ireland, who qualified as the the second-best of the third place finishers across the three pools.

They will face New Zealand in the quarter-finals, at 6.36pm Irish time.