Rugby
Kennedy and Dardis help Ireland to historic World Series medal
LAST weekend was a memorable one for Terenure College RFC’s Billy Dardis and Terry Kennedy of St Mary’s College with both players lending their hand to an historic success for the Ireland Men’s Rugby Sevens team at the HSBC France Sevens in Toulouse.
The team emerged with a silver – a first-ever medal on the World Series circuit as a core nation following a thrilling semi-final victory over the tournament’s host country.
That set up a tantalising decider against Fiji at Stade Ernest Wallon and, while that ended in a 29-17 defeat, a second-place finish leaves them on a sound footing ahead of this weekend’s London Sevens at Twickenham.
Ireland were bronze medallists as an invitational team in the English capital back in 2018 and James Topping’s charges will be eager to leave an imprint on this tournament again.
Part of the squad that travelled to last year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Dardis and Kennedy have been stalwarts of the Sevens programme for a number of years.
They were instrumental in guiding Ireland towards the France Sevens final with Kennedy in lethal scoring form throughout the weekend.
After scoring three tries in as many pool stage games, he also crossed the whitewash in a 14-0 quarter-final win over Argentina on Saturday.
He bagged a brace in a last-four encounter with the French and while the showpiece didn’t go his side’s way, he brought his tournament tally to 35 points by dotting down beyond the Fijian line.
Team captain Dardis was used sparingly at times by Topping as he appeared off the bench in four of the six games that Ireland played, but the former Leinster Academy star made a good impact nonetheless, registering eight conversions.