Not exactly the rip-roaring Rugby Sevens contest that had preceded to rock all inside the sold-out Stade de France, still Ireland’s 10-5 victory over South Africa gets their Olympic campaign off to a positive start, clearly shaking off some of the nerves too.
Having lost their opening game to South Africa at the Tokyo Games, and never quite recovering from there, this victory also builds some suitable moment going into the second game against Japan (8.0 Irish time), who are the rank outsiders of the 12-team competition.
Jordan Conroy ran in Ireland’s opening try just as the clock spilled over at the end of the first half, before Terry Kennedy worked his old familiar magic two minutes from time, at which point South Africa were playing with six men, Ryan Oosthuizen yellow-carded for a high tackle.
“Coming out seeing the full house kind of took me by surprise a little,” Conroy said, “but once the whistle blew I kind of got into a groove and forgot all about it and I was job on and try to secure that win.”
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Conroy had also fallen just short of an opening try on six minutes: “That was pre-match nerves. I was in two minds, I was trying to green ball it or extend it and I just got caught in two minds. I wasn’t decisive enough but I got one back so I am delighted with that as well.
“It was a relief too because it was nil-nil for so long and when I put it down and see the time gone I was like… With all the possession we had it was more so relief that we had scored because they were on the back foot and we kept going.
“We had possession for seven minutes. When you don’t have the ball you are chasing the game and it is a horrible spot to be in.
“But I have to commend our lads, we stuck to the plan and you can’t really do much of you don’t have the ball. It was all about controlling that game. We just wanted to drain the energy out of them, which we did. Second-half they nudged back in, just a lack of concentration in a way, but we did the job and that’s all that matters. On to the next one.
“And pre-match nerves are gone. You always try to get the first tournament out of the way. It’s always like that with any tournament really. It’s just getting the first one done and then you’re in the zone. It’s been a long, massive build-up as well.”
Ireland captain Harry McNulty also spoke of the satisfaction they stuck with their game plan, even when they weren’t converting that possession into scores.
“Look, a win is a win, that’s great,” he said, “but it’s good to stick with the system as well. That’s just something I want to push forward the next couple if games
“I think we had a game plan, stuck with it from the beginning, then when you get tired, some decision making changes. But you’ll get that in rugby. And this is a really important moment for the game of Sevens. This is full from the first day, the first minute.”
And with that McNulty was off to the recovery room: “There’s a catering food hall here, so it’s just chill out, and from that moment on you’re just getting ready for the next game. Three hours is nothing, we’ve had much longer waits, eight or nine hours. Yes, there’s expectation, but it’s more down to us as well, how we play.”
Hugo Lennox also spoke of that need to also build further on this win, Thursday’s final pool game against New Zealand set to be pivotal in deciding the quarter-final seeding.
“It was good to get a win on the board, the first ones can always be shaky and it’s good just to come out the right side of it,” said Lennox.
“From that spectacle, there’s always going to be nerves but that’s the sign of a good team or squad, nerves going into it, but the boys dug deep there and to come away with the win is massive.
“In a tournament like this you want to just continue to grow through it. One win done and we’ll be looking for another one this evening. We’ll get straight in the ice baths now, get some recovery into us, get a bit more grub, feed up and go again.”
