IRFU call time on men's 7s programme as financial realities bite

The women’s sevens programme will continue as a “critical part” of the IRFU strategy for the development of the women’s game.

Former Ireland sevens captain Billy Dardis said players in the Ireland squad are "going looking for jobs right now". Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

The Ireland men’s sevens squad programme is being terminated by the IRFU, just nine months after falling short of an Olympic medal in Paris, with players in the current squad already searching for new jobs.

Billy Dardis, who played for a decade with the national team, and wore the captain’s armband, revealed as much on Wednesday afternoon. The union has since confirmed as much in a statement brought forward from next week.

It’s a seismic, if not unexpected, move by the IRFU. Dardis, who only retired a handful of months ago, described the team’s and the programme’s spiralling fortunes as “deflating”, “disappointing” and “infuriating”, and insisted it should not have come to this.

“Well, lads are going looking for jobs right now,” he explained on Wednesday afternoon. “It’s a bit of a mess. It’s devastating. They get told on Monday, I think. I just have a bit of insight. So lads are looking for jobs, trying to sort out things.

“It’s also the World Rugby thing. You could be in World Sevens, be professional one year, then drop the next year and be professional the next year. It’s an absolute mess. There is big uproar across all the player associations.” 

Dardis captained the men’s side when they first made the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 but missed out on selection, after injury issues, for Paris last year. He was one of up to ten senior players to call time on his commitment since the 2024 Olympics.

Key players like Harry McNulty and Terry Kennedy also moved on and Dardis explained how the IRFU failed to replace them with a single new face. That left the team dependent on 13 or 14 players in the recent World Series.

Other cracks were apparent in the squeezing of the funding tap and the departures of coaches and members of the performance staff. That spilled onto the field as both the men and women finished bottom of their respective tables.

Not a good look in any season. Even worse in 2025 with World Rugby, hit by a reported €24m loss in the sevens game in 2024, belatedly declaring that relegation would be a factor in the top tier in order to cut costs and losses.

“There’s probably a bigger issue around sevens than even the IRFU,” Dardis explained. “There’s a whole World Rugby issue and rugby is at breaking point at the moment. Sevens is probably the younger brother that they want to push away and quieten down.

“World Rugby need to make decisions and they’re throwing a lot of new things around. What happened in the last month, it would be like if the Six Nations announced the week before the last game there is a Division 2 and if you’re not in the top three you’re down.” 

If World Rugby’s concerns with the short-form game were well signposted then the IRFU’s were under the same spotlight given David Nucifora, the man who championed it as performance director, was replaced last year by David Humphreys.

Humphreys actually attended some sevens tournaments and spoke with some of the players around that period. Dardis felt he would be a “big supporter” of the game, but there were cracks even before their medal hopes in the Paris Games came up short.

The failure to start a sevens academy was chief among them. Dardis understands the financial realities but points to players like Hugo Keenan, Zac Ward and Andrew Smith who have graduated through the system to the 15s game.

And, while the IRFU recorded an €18m loss in 2024, that wasn’t unexpected given the dip in incomes that come in World Cup years. The union also has millions of euro held in reserves and Dardis feels strongly that the programme didn’t need to end now, and like this.

“No. It shouldn’t. Yeah, it’s disappointing and because Irish rugby is such a stronghold in world rugby, and it is such a medal opportunity for the Olympics. We were brought to Paris last year as big medal contenders in Team Ireland with rowing, boxing, athletics.” 

Mere hours later and the IRFU responded with their statement that following a “comprehensive review” of its sevens programmes, “it has made the decision to cease the Men’s Sevens programme following the conclusion of the 2024/25 season”.

It continued that this is part of a broader strategic effort to ensure “long-term financial sustainability and focus on key initiatives outlines in the Union’s strategic plan” and it made mention of that €18m loss in the last financial year.

“The Union’s assessment concluded that the Men’s Sevens programme does not contribute as a development pathway for the 15s game, with current academy structures in place within the provinces offering greater development opportunities for men’s rugby,” it read.

The women’s programme will continue as a “critical part” of the strategy for the development of the women’s game, according to Humphreys who described the decision to terminate the men’s programme as a “difficult” one.

“The financial situation we face is challenging, and it’s crucial that we take decisive action to secure the long-term success of Irish Rugby,” he explained.