“We’re good enough to beat any team in the world”- Dardis

Daire Walsh

QUALIFYING for the Olympics may have been hailed as the culmination of several years of hard work, but Billy Dardis believes the Ireland Sevens rugby team can scale even greater heights in Tokyo next week.

Thanks to a magnificent triumph at the World Repechage in Monaco last month, Dardis and his team-mates became the first oval ball side on these shores to secure a spot at the Summer Games.

Beginning next Monday, Ireland will face South Africa, the United States and Kenya in the group stages of the Olympic Sevens.

Should it all go according to plan, Ireland will be competing in the knockout rounds two days later instead of a lower-placed ranking game.

Having witnessed exponential growth within the programme since his Sevens debut in 2016, Dardis believes Ireland are more than capable of achieving another significant milestone in the Japanese capital.

“I think it’s going to be a tough one or two days in that group, but I think if we stick to what we’re good at, I’m confident in ourselves that we can put on a show and we are good enough to beat them.

“We’ve proven over the last two years that we’re good enough to beat any team in the world,” explained Dardis, who is registered at club level with Terenure College.

“That’s what we’re going over with. We’ve nothing really to lose. If we put on a show we can beat the best teams in the world. Every team goes over there wanting to get a medal, but you have to believe it.

“I think guys are well aware that we are capable of coming away with a medal. If we thought it was good qualifying, how special would it be to bring a medal home around our necks?”

A native of Naas who spent his formative years at Newbridge College, Dardis later transferred to Terenure College and represented the southsiders for two years in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup.

A former Leinster Academy star who also spent one year on a professional contract at the eastern province, he credits Terenure for helping him become the person and player he is today.

“Myself and Greg O’Shea often joke about it, that we peaked in school. That’s where we were at our best and it has only been downhill since then for us! Obviously schools rugby is massive.

“That [Terenure] is probably where I picked up my core values in rugby. Learned what kind of player I am.

“Not being a selfish player, being a hard working player. Making other people look good and making right decisions. A big thing in Terenure was being a gentleman off the pitch and that was probably driven into me from a young age.

“It has thankfully worked out that way. It feels like everything was actually building up to that weekend in Monaco. Now hopefully we’ll get another chance to do something similar in Tokyo” he said.