Team FRU made their first appearance at the Midland Midnight Sevens last weekend. They may not have won a game (boo, hiss) but they did push three experienced sides all the way in the Women’s Open competition.
Sponsored by Huge Rugby, the team certainly looked the part in their new kit designed by team captain Brittany Hogan and despite being the youngest team in the competition, by some margin, they produced an exciting brand of rugby as they set about Scottish select side Red Kites and AIL teams Railway Union and Cooke RFC Women with some gusto.
The team, which was expertly managed by veteran Aishling O’Connell, contained only three players with regular AIL experience and the fact that they only lost two of the games by the odd try and one by a conversion was a remarkable achievement for the novice team.
Team FRU: Hannah Beattie, Enya Breen, Ella Durkan, Brittany Hogan (c), Vicky Irwin, Neve Jones, Lucinda Kinghan, Kelly McCormill, Chloe McIlwaine, Andrea Stock. Manager: Aishling O’Connell
You can view the galeries of matches in the Women’s Open section of the Midland Midnight Sevens by clicking on the slider below.
Match Galleries
2018-07-28 Cooke v Railway Union (Midnight 7s)
2018-07-28 Team FRU v Cooke (Midnight 7s)
2018-07-28 Red Kites v Railway Union (Midnight 7s)
2018-07-28 Team FRU v Railway Union (Midnight 7s)
2018-07-28 Team FRU v Red Kites (Midnight 7s)
2018-07-28 Cooke v Blackrock (Midnight 7s)
Speaking on the adventure, Team FRU “Director of Rugby” John McMurtry stated;
I’m really happy with how the players performed during the tournament. We brought this team together to highlight the their skills and they all delivered.
To be fair, eight of the players have already played for Grand Slam-winning U18 teams in the last two years, and four of them have also played for Ireland U18 in Sevens, so we had a strong group of motivated young players.
However, I wanted to see how they would do on their own, without senior players to help them. Most of these players have been leaders in their age groups, and even though they are young, I wanted them to prove they could lead at a senior level too.
They were up against seasoned internationals in a couple of games and they pushed they really close.
I was especially happy with how Brittany [Hogan] led the team as captain. Brittany did an excellent job bringing the squad together, choosing the teams, and deciding on tactics. She showed great leadership throughout, and this experience will help her as she aims for a spot on the Ireland senior teams, which I am sure many of these players will pursue in the coming years1.
- Update 7th July 2026. Six have received Ireland caps at senior level, all the rest are senior provincial players. ↩︎
