Olympic Men’s Sevens Pool A: New Zealand 14 Ireland 12
Ireland lost their final Pool A game to New Zealand at the Olympics in the last play of the match at Stade de France on Thursday afternoon. The narrow defeat, which came by way of a late try from Ngarohi McGarvey-Black, means Ireland will face double Olympic winners Fiji in Thursday night’s quarter-final (9.0pm Irish time).
“Yeah, we’re disappointed,” said Hugo Keenan after the match in which Ireland led 12-0 at the break. “Definitely ... we obviously came out strongly putting in that first-half performance that we were looking for. We just didn’t back it up. A few mistakes. And not taking a few crucial chances that we could have to put it to bed.
“But at the same time we’re exactly where we are, where we want to be in a quarter-final, competing for a medal. And it’s huge opportunity and really excited. And I think that performance was definitely a step up from the last two that we’ve put in. It’s just I suppose getting that 14-, 15-, 16-minute performance.”
Disappointment was sharp afterwards, more so because of how Ireland dominated most of the match, Zac Ward expertly stepping Akulia Rokolisoa after six minutes to swallow dive in to make it 5-0.
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That Irish score was followed a minute later when Jordon Conroy found space to muscle in under the posts. After the referee was satisfied there was no knock-on the try was awarded and converted for a 12-0 Irish lead.
But calamity struck just after the break when Leroy Carter wriggled through tackles in centre field and raced 50 metres to put New Zealand’s first points on the board. But still Ireland led 12-7 and went through a wonderful phase of possession play, which took them right up to the New Zealand line before a knock-on from Keenan.
New Zealand swept up to Ireland’s danger zone with McGarvey-Black diving over a cluster of bodies with the conversion arriving after the final hooter.
A devastated Ireland left the pitch knowing a win and a much easier quarter-final was well within their grasp.
“Yeah, that was just a mistake on my behalf,” said Keenan putting his hand up for the knock-on. “It’s a little bit greasy out there, but that, that’s no excuse. I should have taken it and should have finished it. I’ll just have to move on with and take the learnings from and just stay in the moment a bit better.
“They’ve got a new a few new bodies in from the series,” said Keenan of Fiji. “I suppose, so do we, so there’s a bit of both. They’ve obviously got the experience, but the lads will take good confidence that we’ve competed against them all year and we can compete with any team in the competition.”
NEW ZEALAND: S Curry, A Rokolisoa, D Collier (capt), F Fineanganofo, M Leo, L Carter, J Webber.
Replacements: B Rush, T Ng Shiu, N McGarvey-Black, A Knewstubb, T Cook-Savage
IRELAND: H McNulty, M Roche, Z Ward, J Conroy, H Keenan, T Kennedy, N Comerford.
Replacements: J Kelly, A Smith, C Mullins, H Lennox, G Mullin.
Referee: J Way (Aus).
Olympic Games Men’s Sevens Quarter-Finals (all times Irish)
New Zealand v South Africa, 8.0
Argentina v France, 8.30
Fiji v Ireland, 9.0
Australia v USA, 9.30
