Ireland U18 Men and Womens side were competing this weekend with seven Ulster players representing.
Charlie Worth (Letterkenny) captained the Ireland Men’s U18 7s squad that won the Rugby Europe Under-18 Men’s 7s Championship in Gdansk, Poland.
Worth was joined in the squad by Ben Moxham (Ballymena), Conor McKee (Sullivan Upper) and Jude Postlethwaite (RBAI).
Mya Alcorn (Letterkenny), Amanda McQuade (Virginia) and Lucy Turkington (Dungannon) were in the in the Ireland Women’s U18 Sevens squad that came third in the U18 Women’s Home Nations 7s Tournament over the weekend in Swansea.
The details of the tournaments are below.
The U18 Women’s Home Nations 7s Tournament
Ireland played five games against the other Home Nations. It was a round robin format on Day 1 with Ireland winning all three of their matches to go into Day 2 as top seeds.
A surprise defeat by bottom seeds Scotland at the start of Day 2 saw Ireland drop to the 3/4th playoff where they recorded a resounding win against Wales to finish third.
Scotland went on to lose to England in the final. This was the first time that Ireland didn’t win this competition in it’s three tournaments to date.
Results
Ireland won four of the five games they played, scoring 112 points from 18 tries and 11 conversions giving a 61% conversion rate. They conceded 64 points in total.
The match results are as follows:
| Day 1 | Ireland | 26 | 7 | Scotland |
| Day 1 | Ireland | 22 | 12 | England |
| Day 1 | Ireland | 19 | 10 | Wales |
| Day 2 | Ireland | 14 | 19 | Scotland |
| Day 2 | Ireland | 31 | 14 | Wales |
Scorers
| PLAYER | SCO | ENG | WAL | SCO | WAL | PLD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grace Browne Moran (Westport) | X | 4 | 0 | ||||
| Beibhinn Parsons (Ballinasloe) (C) | 10 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 30 | |
| Ava Ryder (Westport) | 5 | 0 | |||||
| Ivana Kiripati (Buccaneers) | 5 | 0 | |||||
| Kate Farrell McCabe (Gorey) | 16 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 27 | ||
| Caoimhe O’Callaghan (Dundalk) | 5 | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Amanda McQuade (Virginia) | X | 4 | 0 | ||||
| Mya Alcorn (Letterkenny) | 5 | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Lucy Turkington (Dungannon) | 7 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 15 | ||
| Méabh McElligott (Listowel) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | ||
| Marlise Flynn (Carrick-on-Suir) | X | 4 | 0 | ||||
| Chisom Ugwueru (Ennis) | 5 | 5 | X | 5 | 4 | 15 | |
| TOTALS | 26 | 22 | 19 | 14 | 31 | 56 | 112 |
Captain Beibhinn Parsons led the way with five tries, with Méabh McElligott and Chisom Ugwueru picking up three each. Kate Farrell McCabe and Lucy Turkington shared the kicking duties with McCabe landing 6 and Turkington 5.
The Rugby Europe Under-18 Men’s 7s Championship
Ireland played six games in the European Championship over two days. The Day 1 matches were played in a pool format with Ireland winning two and losing one to finish second in thier pool, behind Georgia.
However, they went undefeated on Day 2 winning their quarterfinal, semifinal and final matches to claim the championship for the first time.
Results
Ireland won five of their six games scoring 158 points from 26 tries and 14 conversions giving a conversion rate of 53%. They conceded 96 points from 10 tries and 6 conversions.
The match results are shown below.
| POOL B | Ireland | 43 | 0 | Luxembourg |
| POOL B | Ireland | 43 | 0 | Russia |
| POOL B | Ireland | 7 | 31 | Georgia |
| CUP QF | Ireland | 15 | 5 | Germany |
| CUP SF | France | 14 | 24 | Ireland |
| CUP FINAL | Ireland | 26 | 12 | Spain |
Scorers
| PLAYER | LUX | RUS | GEO | GER | FRA | ESP | PLD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diarmuid Kilcommins (Corinthians) | 5 | 6 | 5 | |||||
| Michael Cooke (Ealing Trailfinders) | 8 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 6 | 34 | |
| James Langston (Wasps Academy) | 6 | 0 | ||||||
| Success Edogun (Kilkenny College) | 10 | 10 | 6 | 20 | ||||
| Josh O’Connor (Wexford Wanderers) | 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 35 | ||
| Aaron Leahy (CBC Cork) | 5 | 5 | 6 | 10 | ||||
| Jack Ward Murphy (Garryowen) | 6 | 0 | ||||||
| Charlie Worth (Letterkenny RFC) (capt) | 5 | 6 | 5 | |||||
| Ben Moxham (Ballymena RFC) | 5 | X | X | X | 3 | 5 | ||
| Conor McKee (Sullivan Upper School) | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 14 | |||
| Jude Postlethwaite (RBAI) | 10 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 25 | |||
| Rory Dwyer (Belvedere College) | 5 | 6 | 5 | |||||
| TOTALS | 43 | 43 | 7 | 15 | 24 | 26 | 69 | 158 |
Wexford’s Josh O’Connor top the scoring charts with seven tries over his six appearances. Inst’s Jude Postlewaite is next up with five followed by Kilkenny’s Success Edogun on four.
