IRELAND RECORDED THREE wins from three at the World Rugby Sevens repechage in Monaco on Saturday to keep their hopes of Olympic qualification alive.
Ireland are one of 10 teams in Monaco looking to secure the final spot at this summer’s Tokyo Olympics.
Anthony Eddy’s side started a busy Saturday schedule with a 31-10 win over Zimbabwe, with Terry Kennedy bagging three of Ireland’s five tries.
Ireland followed that up with a 31-0 win over Mexico, and then wrapped up a strong day’s work with a dominant 43-0 victory against Tonga.
Saving the best performance of the day until last, Ireland built up a 22-0 lead by half-time thanks to tries from Harry McNulty, Jordon Conroy and two from Kennedy, with Tonga struggling to deal with Ireland’s pace and movement.
Ireland extended their lead just 10 seconds into the second half, and again it was Kennedy showing great pace to race clear and score his hat-trick try.
Ireland added two further tries from Conroy to cap a superb first day at the Stade Louis II.
They take on Samoa in their final Pool A game at 12.17pm on Sunday.
The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the semi-finals. The final will be played at 6.07pm on Sunday.