Olympic sevens shot 'absolutely' available for Ireland stars

Michael Glennon Michael Glennon | 04-29 16:15

A number of Ireland's 15s players will get a chance to try out for the sevens team ahead the Olympic Games.

Scott Bemand’s charges finished their Guinness Women’s Six Nations campaign on a high with a victory over Scotland on Saturday that secured third place and automatic qualification for next year’s World Cup.

Béibhinn Parsons, Eve Higgins, Aoibheann Reilly and Katie Heffernan, an unused substitute on Saturday, are among those who have crossed over between the codes.

Players like winger Corrigan, who scored three tries in her first Six Nations, and back row Aoife Wafer, Ireland’s player of the tournament, could come into the equation.

"Absolutely. We want to represent Irish rugby to the highest possible standard that we can," said the 45-year-old.

"The great work that Katie has been doing absolutely there’s discussions being had and Katie will get an opportunity to put her hand up for an Olympics.

"Myself and TJ [Allan Temple-Jones] have had continued and good conversations around players.

"It's up to him (TJ) in terms of his selections and where it goes from there but players are available."

Asked about her experience with sevens and a possible shot at becoming an Olympian, 20-year-old Corrigan (above) said: "I did underage sevens and I went to Marcoussis in France a few times and yeah, I like the sevens but playing now, you got a taste of the 15s and I love that as well. Yeah, I don’t know."

However, one player who has ruled herself out of contention is Brittany Hogan, player of the match in the 15-12 win over the Scots.

"I was involved in the sevens squad a few years ago," Hogan (below) said.

"I think I’m a little bit too slow for that now. I’ve had to pack on a good bit of kgs, muscle-wise for the back row so we’ll see how it goes but I don’t really think that’s on the cards for me."

Meanwhile, the Ireland 15s will take a break before a summer camp ahead of WXV1 in Canada.

They will face England, France and one of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and USA in September and October.

After finishing last season pointless, they secured two wins against Wales and Scotland, and a losing bonus point against Italy in Bemand’s first year in charge.

He admits there is plenty of work to be done in order to compete with the likes of the Red Roses, who wrapped up a fifth successive Grand Slam when beating France on Saturday.

"Set-piece is massive in northern hemisphere teams," said the former Bath and Harlequins scrum-half (above) when asked what areas for improvement he will focus on.

"We need to be able to handle the ball and stress and stretch teams. We need to be able to kick the ball.

"Obviously, we’ve got some good kickers. We need to just develop that side of the game a little bit in terms of variety and where and how you get material advantage from it.

"We’ve really had barely any time, we’re only just getting started into it so we’ve got plenty to go at...and it’s a great opportunity for us."

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