McGann stars as Ireland seal place in Rugby World Cup Sevens
Athlone’s Anna McGann played a leading role last weekend as the Ireland women’s sevens team secured qualification for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town.
Moydrum native McGann notched five tries over the weekend as Ireland went unbeaten in Bucharest to qualify for this September’s Rugby World Cup Sevens in South Africa.
The Ireland women brought a hotly-contested Rugby World Cup Sevens European Qualifier to a close with a convincing 36-0 play-off win over Portugal to secure their place in Cape Town.
Aiden McNulty’s side wrapped up their summer campaign in fine style with four straight wins, including a 52-0 triumph over the Czech Republic. They scored 177 points (29 tries) and conceded none across the two days.
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, who ran in a hat-trick against the Portuguese, was the star turn in terms of try scoring again. She finished the tournament with ten tries.
Captain Lucy Mulhall also impressed across the weekend, her tally of 53 points made up of five tries and 14 conversions. As previously stated, McGann (who plays for Railway Union RFC) scored five tries, while Eve Higgins contributed four.
The Ireland women, who had a historic fourth place finish in the series this season, will head to Cape Town with big ambitions on the back of their best year ever on the global circuit.
Mulhall and her team-mates have World Cup experience in their ranks from 2018. They finished sixth four years ago, beating England and Russia when they were ninth seeds.
Meanwhile, as was the case in San Francisco in 2018, Ireland will have two teams at the RWC Sevens as the men’s team also strung together four victories at Romania’s National Rugby Stadium.
It was mission accomplished for both of Ireland sevens teams, sponsored by TritonLake, as they both went unbeaten in Bucharest to qualify for the Rugby World Cup Sevens.
There were four qualifying places on offer and James Topping’s charges, who were without suspended former Buccaneers player Jordan Conroy for the final game, overcame a dogged Georgia outfit, 17-12, to book their World Cup spot.