Ireland men's Sevens coach James Topping admits he has taken a risk by including Hugo Keenan and Andrew Smith in his squad for the upcoming Olympic Games, but he believes the pair will give his medal chasing side an 'extra impetus' in Paris this summer.
Leinster full-back Keenan and Connacht wing Smith were both included in Topping's 12-man squad for the games next month, having recently returned to the Sevens programme from their provinces.
Keenan was a particularly high-profile inclusion, with the full-back missing Leinster's BKT URC play-off run in recent weeks while he played for the Ireland Sevens team in their World Series event in Madrid, as well as the Rugby Europe Championship in Croatia.
The 28-year-old is also set to miss out on Ireland's summer tour of South Africa while he prepares for the Olympic Games later in July.
The recent addition of two contracted provincial players presented a selection headache to Topping, but the Ireland coach says he's been impressed with the reaction of his players to the two late additions.
"Probably my biggest worry was would it disrupt the team dynamic?" Topping (below) admitted. "Would there be a bit of pushback from players?
"I had no doubt around the attitude and the competence of those two players [Keenan and Smith] in playing Sevens, but my concern was there had been guys going well this year, we'd made every quarter-final in the World Series and got lots of medals this year, [though] no golds, unfortunately.
"So, there was that thought of, 'Will there be push back from a lot of players?' There wasn't.
"And then there is the thought that, if an international player like Hugo Keenan comes up to you and says, 'I'll give this a go,' it's very hard for me to say 'No, I don't want to give you a chance of going to the Olympics.'"
Ireland finished second in the 2023/24 World SVNS Series behind Argentina, with a consistent five semi-final appearances across their seven events in the campaign.
World Cup bronze-medallists in 2022, Ireland will be among the medal contenders in Paris, when their Olympic campaign starts on 24 July.
Hosts France have also added some star quality from the XVs game with Antoine Dupont part of their squad, but Topping believes Keenan can make a big difference for Ireland.
"He [Keenan] does give us a wee bit of extra impetus. I think other teams look at him and are wary of him whenever they see him playing, even the last few tournaments.
"I also think that it's something which improves our team dynamic, which is an important thing.
"I'm not picking the best players the whole time. If we just had seven Terry Kennedys playing we probably wouldn't win many games.
"We need guys that can win balls in the air, guys who can make turnovers, who can make tackles, and Hugo fits in with the sort of personnel that we require in the team, as does Andrew Smith and the sort of style that he brings to the game.
"I'm sure Andy would say the same, he [Keenan] is a great fella, level-headed, grounded, he'd be the first guy to pick up the bags after training and drag everything in," he added.
Both Keenan and Smith previously played Sevens for Ireland, with Keenan involved with the side between 2017 and 2019, while Smith was part of the Ireland team that secured qualification last summer.
"He [Keenan] came up with us initially five or six years ago, and was just a great player. The way he plays, he's such a hard worker and we need that in the team.
"We have got guys who are great finishers, and guys who get on the ball, he just brings that extra thing. We have someone who can clock on for 14 minutes in a game, make lots of tackles, and that's what you want in the game.
"There's been a push on my side to select those two guys, but it's not their fault Hugo is playing for Ireland and Andrew is playing for Connacht.
"They've made a sacrifice to come back to give it a shot, so the rest of the guys are 100% behind it, even before they came in."
Meanwhile, women's Sevens coach Allen Temple-Jones believes Vikki Wall (below) still has a future in the Irish rugby set-up, despite missing out on Olympic selection.
The All-Ireland winning footballer with Meath joined the Irish Sevens programme last year from AFLW side North Melbourne last year, making her World Series debut in January.
"Vikki Wall came in here six or seven months ago never having played rugby before and she's put her best foot forward massively," Temple-Jones said.
"She's been a credit to herself. She's really got stuck in and got involved. She's got some exposure around the World Series.
"It just shows she's been able to do it between Gaelic and AFL and she's done it very successfully for us this year. So, credit to her, she's thrown herself massively into it. It's a massive task for anyone to come in and she's done really well."
While Ireland's 12-player squad has been selected, the head coach pointed out that their panel is still subject to change in the event of injuries, while Ireland also still have to get through the second leg of the Rugby Europe Championship in Hamburg next week.
"There were a lot of girls that were disappointed. She [Wall] is one of them. Yes, she was close but she may still get there. Who knows? Players outside of the 12 may still get there.
"We've got to also look at the fact that it's still four or five weeks away. Anything can happen. A lot of players are still in contention and that's the importance of keeping the group as tight as we can. Yes, there's disappointment but we've got to make sure our whole squad is prepared and ready to go."
While the former Ladies Gaelic Footballer of the Year has missed out on a place at the 2024 Games, Temple-Jones insists they have high hopes for her future.
"She's had numerous opportunities on the world series so she's done really well and we still looking forward to working with her moving forward.
"For us, as a programme and moving forward, we've still got Los Angeles [Olympics] in in 2028 so by no means is this for us the end of the line. We're training with the U18s on Saturday and we start inspiring the youngster to come and Los Angeles in 2028 is a goal for us.
"We've already had conversations with Vikki around that, she may have certain obligations to fulfil in certain places, but absolutely we definitely want to get her back in and see where this can go, she’s an amazing athlete, she has a very high ceiling from an athletic performance perspective. She’s really done well and she’s really close."
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