Ireland secure Hong Kong Sevens place

Ireland and Scotland have secured their place at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong next year after coming through the qualifying finals in Mallorca.

England had already guaranteed their place at the tournament and they were joined by the Irish and Scots as well as event-winners Portugal plus Italy, France, Georgia and Russia.

Scotland lost in the semi-finals of the cup tournament to Portugal while Ireland were beaten by Italy.

The Scots suffered a surprise 24-14 defeat to Georgia in the group stage but they bounced back to beat France 35-0 in the last eight.

Ireland coach Ryan Constable was also pleased with his team’s performance. He said: “This was a very important win for us, as we secured the main objective of our campaign, to qualify for 2005.

“This will enable the Irish Union to create a programme for the Ireland sevens team, to enable us to compete with the best in Hong Kong next year”.