Vicky Wall made her long-awaited debut for the Ireland Sevens side in the World Series’ pool stage win over Japan in Perth.
Ireland, who beat the United States and lost to New Zealand on Friday, defeated Japan 26-7 in the pool stage to reach the World Series for the first time since Wall switched from Gaelic football. Ireland achieved a comfortable victory with a hat-trick from Babin Parson, securing a spot in the quarter-finals as pool runners-up.
[ Vikki Wall’s Olympic challenge of starting from scratch at the top tier of a third sport ]
In the match played on Saturday morning, Ireland narrowly won against Fiji 12-14, but Alan Temple-Jones’ team had crosses from Eve Higgins and Amy-Lee Murphy-Crow that gave both teams the lead. The only thing that separated them was a conversion error.
Ireland will play England just after 4am on Sunday for a place in the final.
Meanwhile, in the men’s competition, Ireland also beat Australia on Saturday thanks to a double from Terry Kennedy and a try from Jordan Conroy to finish runners-up in the pool competition. The result was a win against Great Britain on Friday and a loss to the United States.
James Topping’s side overcame a half-time deficit to beat France 21-14 in Saturday’s quarter-final. In the second half, France’s Joseph Jefferson Lee received a yellow card, but Ireland’s hopes were sealed and his foul led to a penalty try.
Zach Ward scored the dramatic winning goal about two-and-a-half minutes after full-time jeers, sending Ireland into the semi-finals against Argentina. The game will be played on Sunday at 5:10 a.m.
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