Final day of Kinsale Sevens cancelled due to heavy rain

HEAVY rainfall forced the cancellation of the final day of the Heineken Kinsale Sevens tournament yesterday.

Tournament officials in consultation with the match officials made the decision early yesterday morning as they deemed the pitches to be unplayable.

Ronan Kett, tournament director, admitted to being disappointed by the circumstances which forced their decision.

However, he added that they had enjoyed two very successful days on Friday and Saturday.

“Unfortunately, we had to cancel our final day as the pitches were unsafe and unplayable after unprecedented rainfall on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

“Ultimately in situations like this, the safety of the players is paramount.

“We enjoyed two fantastic days on Friday and Saturday, even when the ground was a little soft.

“Clonakilty won the club final on Saturday and we also played over 100 games in the junior and senior men and women’s competition on Saturday, so at least that was something.”

However, he said that rescheduling the final day of competition was unfortunately not a possibility because of the global nature of the event.

“A lot of teams who were here had travelled from overseas and had flights booked for today and as a result, we couldn’t re-fix the finals and the weather has not been too kind either.”

Munster coach Alan Gaffney and former skipper Mick Galway were amongst those in attendance on Saturday, with the provincial boss enjoying his first taste of Sevens rugby in Europe, according to Mr Kett. Severe rain caused the postponements and cancellations of a number of sporting events in Munster over the weekend.

The Munster Senior Cup rugby final between Shannon and Midleton, which was due to be played yesterday at Musgrave Park, was also called off. The game has been re-fixed for this afternoon at 3pm.

The entire county championship programme was decimated in Cork yesterday and has been re-fixed for a number of evenings throughout the week.