European Games 2023: Great Britain women and Ireland men's rugby sevens squads headed to Paris 2024 after striking gold in Krakow
Ireland secures representation for men's and women's squads at Paris 2024, while British men to face last-chance repechage tournament.
Rugby Sevens
An assertive 33-0 victory in the women’s rugby sevens final at the 2023 European Games would be cause to celebrate in itself. For gold medallists Great Britain, however, the meaning was even deeper.
With their win over hosts Poland in Krakow, the British women’s team also guaranteed themselves a spot at their third consecutive Olympic Games, at Paris 2024, and a chance to re-write their Olympic story.
Great Britain finished fourth in the past two editions of the Games since rugby returned to the Olympic programme at Rio 2016. But recent developments make them optimistic they can finally crack into the top three.
The squad made its debut on the World Rugby Sevens Series last season and while the rookie season has been a turbulent one, the challenges also helped the players to strengthen their bond.
That bond was on full display when Great Britain took out Poland 33-0 in the final at the Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium with Tokyo 2020 Olympian Emma Uren scoring two tries.
Ireland men's team: Hard-fought battle for gold and quota
The Irish men’s players also had flashbacks of Tokyo 2020 fuelling them when they stepped out on the pitch against Great Britain in the final. The Irish team was eliminated in the group stage at the 2020 Games, and were hungry for a re-match at Paris 2024.
In the final match-up of the night, Ireland powered to a 26-12 victory thanks to the heroics of two Olympians, Jordan Conroy and World Rugby Men’s Sevens Player of the Year 2022 Terry Kennedy.
The men's side is now headed for Paris 2024 along with the Irish women's team, which qualified earlier as one of the top teams in the World Rugby World Series 2022-2023 season.
Ireland joins the six other men's teams who have already qualified for Paris 2024: France, New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji, Australia and Uruguay. Great Britain joins France, New Zealand, Australia, USA, Ireland and Brazil among the women's teams that qualified.
Silver and bronze medallists: Keeping dreams of Paris 2024 alive
While Ireland's men and Great Britain's women have qualified directly for Paris 2024, Olympic qualification remains a possibility for the second and third-placed teams.
They advance to the World Rugby Sevens Repechage tournament, which will determine the final teams going to the next Olympic Games.
A total of 12 teams, two per gender from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America, will play in the repechage tournament, which will be held in 2024 after the other qualifiers are determined.
The 2023 European Games silver medallists Great Britain and Poland will be among the teams fighting for the men's and women's final spots, respectively.
The Czechia women's team will also play in the repechage tournament after winning the bronze medal match against Belgium with a score of 24-17.
On the men’s side, bronze medallists Spain will play in the repechages thanks to a dominant 42-0 victory over Portugal.