Rugby 7s: Ireland to play for ninth place after frustrating day at Olympic Games

Kenya's Vincent Onyala scores a late try to knock Ireland out of the Olympics despite Ian Fitzpatrick and Jordan Conroy. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie
Ireland will face Kenya for the second time in quick succession will ninth place in the Olympic Games up for grabs.
The Irish were convincing 31-0 winners over Korea in their second game this morning but it was overall a bittersweet day for the team playing at the Games for the first time.
The second victory of the day came after an ultimately disappointing maiden Olympic win for the Sevens squad at Tokyo Stadium, the 12-7 win over Kenya not enough to earn a quarter-final spot as the Irish were knocked out on scoring averages.
Had Ireland won by eight points or more, they would have reached the last eight, despite day 1 defeats to South Africa and the USA.

“Nobody really wanted this scenario unfortunately with the points difference. It’s disappointing," said try-scorer Harry McNulty.
"I think we really should have won that game by a whole lot more. If we had one more score on the board, or if we didn’t let them in, we would have gone through to the quarters.
“Realistically, if we had played at our best the last two days I think we would have been well and truly in there and have a really good shot at putting ourselves up for some sort of medal. It’s just disappointing because we know we’re so much better.

"It’s probably one of the lesser performances of our careers. I don’t know what’s really going wrong, but we’re not firing on all cylinders. It’s just simple errors. It’s really small errors, but at this level, particularly at the Olympics, those errors will cost you.”