The Ireland 7’s men side that will travel to the Dubai 7’S has been named

The Ireland Sevens men side travel to Dubai next week for the invitational Dubai Seven’s tournament and nine players who featured at the Silicon Valley Seven’s will also make the trip to the Middle East.

Shannon’s Greg O’Shea, along with Will Connors, Billy Dardis, Ian Fitzpatrick, Harry McNulty, Bryan Mollen, John O’Donnell, and Mark Roche are the nine players returning to the squad.

Terry Kennedy of Leinster will travel to take part in the tournament for the third year in a row and is the only Irish player to do so.

Kennedy’s Leinster team mates Jimmy O’Brien and Hugo Keenan along with Munster’s Alex McHenry will re join the squad after not featuring in San Jose a few weeks back.

Ireland will be joined by Germany and France Development in their pool, with the likes of Georgia, Zambia, England Development (Royals), the South African 7s Academy and the Canada Maple Leafs also taking part in the two day competition.

Speaking on confirmation of the squad, IRFU Director of Rugby Sevens, Anthony Eddy said; “We’ve named a strong side to travel out to Dubai for the Invitational tournament, and the players that have been selected have all played against top international teams already this season at the likes of the Oktoberfest 7s and the Silicon Valley 7s.

With the likes of Germany and the French development side in our pool, it’s set to be a challenging opening day and will be another good test for the players as we continue to build towards the Hong Kong Repechage next April.”

The Dubai 7’s Invitational takes place on the 1st and 2nd of December at the Sevens Stadium Dubai

Ireland Men’s 7s – Dubai 7s Invitational, Sevens Stadium, Dubai – 1/2 December 2017

Will Connors (UCD RFC/Leinster)
Billy Dardis (UCD RFC)
Ian Fitzpatrick (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
High Keenan (UCD RFC/Leinster)
Terry Kennedy (St. Mary’s College RFC/Leinster)

Alex McHenry (Cork Constitution FC/Munster)
Harry McNulty (UCD RFC)
Bryan Mollen (Dublin University FC)
Jimmy O’Brien (UCD RFC/Leinster)
John O’Donnell (Lansdowne FC)
Greg O’Shea (Shannon RFC)
Mark Roche (Blackrock College RFC)

Ireland Men’s 7s – Dubai 7s Invitational Fixtures – Pool C
Friday 1st December 2017
Ireland v Germany – 3:40pm (local time)/11:40am (Irish time)
Ireland v Old Georgians RFC – 7:06pm (local time)/3:06pm (Irish time)
Ireland v France Development – 9:00pm (local time)/5.00pm Sun (Irish time)

Saturday 2nd December 2017
Play-offs

Ireland Men’s 7s Competitions Schedule
Oktoberfest 7s, Munich, Germany – 7th Place
Elche 7s, Spain -2nd Place
Silicon Valley 7s – 9th Place
Dubai 7s, Dubai, UAU – 1st/2nd December
Hong Kong 7s (World Series Repechage) – 7th/8th April
Amsterdam 7s, Netherlands – 9th/10th June
World Rugby Sevens Rugby World Cup, San Francisco, USA – 20th-22nd July