Olympic Games Paris 2024

Hugo Keenan: Chasing redemption and new glory in Ireland Rugby Sevens switch

By Andrew Binner
5 min|
Hugo Keenan in action for Ireland rugby sevens

Picture by 2018 Getty Images

Rugby sevens could provide Hugo Keenan with redemption.

Over the past few years the Ireland full-back has made a name for himself as one of the world’s leading 15-a-side players.

Combining rock solid defence with silky-smooth playmaking abilities, “The Fox” has helped his national team to Six Nations titles in 2023 and 2024, and has twice been named in the Team of the Championship.

In 2023, everything looked set for Ireland, the world’s No. 1 ranked team, to go to France and win their first-ever Rugby World Cup.

But their dream was devastatingly crushed by an inspired New Zealand in the quarter-finals, ensuring four more years of hurt for the Emerald Isle.

Unfortunately for Keenan, there was more pain to follow as his club, Leinster, lost out to Toulouse in the 2024 Champions Cup final last week.

Perhaps these two disappointing finishes played some part in Keenan making the shock decision to compete at the World Rugby SVNS Grand Final in Madrid, potentially paving the way for a return to France at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

Returning to the Ireland sevens programme

Ever since rugby sevens made its Olympic debut at Rio 2016, high-profile 15s players from the men’s game have temporarily made the switch over in order to have a shot at gold.

All Black Sonny Bill Williams, Fijian powerhouse Semi Radradra, and Australia’s Samu Kerevi all played at the Games, while another Wallabies legend in Michael Hooper is hoping to make the plane to Paris.

However, Keenan cannot be added to this list, as he is in fact returning to the sport.

It is five years since Keenan won the last of his twelve caps for Ireland Sevens. During his two years in the programme, the speedster helped his nation seal a memorable third place finish as an invitational team in London, competed at the 2018 World Cup Sevens in San Francisco, and most importantly achieved World Series qualification in Hong Kong in 2019.

A lot has changed since then with Ireland since becoming something of a powerhouse in the sevens. Their second-place overall in the 2023/24 series, including podium finishes in Singapore, Perth, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, tells its own story.

Flying winger Terry Kennedy, tops the current try-scoring charts with 31 scores this season and has become one of the sport’s top players. Making Ireland’s team after so long out will be no easy feat, even for a man with Keenan’s resume.

“It would be very cool to do,” Keenan admitted to RTE Sport in November. “I obviously loved my time with the Sevens, I did two and a half, three years with them.

“I’d like to think I helped them qualify for the last one in Tokyo [in 2021]. My last ever Sevens event was the qualifier to get them into the World Repechage.

“My dad’s missing the Sevens circuit anyway, he loved the trips over to Hong Kong and all that went along with it. I’m sure he’ll be in Paris on that bandwagon in 2024 anyway.”

Hugo Keenan (R) of Ireland tracks down England's Dan Bibby (L) on day two of the HSBC London Sevens at Twickenham Stadium on June 3, 2018 in London, United Kingdom.

Picture by 2018 Getty Images

Keenan v Dupont - a reunion?

Keenan will have undoubtedly taken great encouragement in returning from one of his fiercest 15-a-side rivals, Antoine Dupont.

Following an equally heartbreaking early elimination from his home World Cup, the French scrum-half went back to sevens and had an immediate impact on the team, helping them to bronze in Vancouver and the Los Angeles title.

If selected, he is set to be one of the stars of the Olympics, having recently had the opportunity to carry the Olympic flame in Toulouse. Dupont and Keenan may even get to lock horns, with the Frenchman having also been named to take part in the Madrid Grand Final.

Both men have taken huge sacrifices to pursue the faster format of the sport. Dupont had to sit out of the 2024 Six Nations, while 27-year-old Keenan is set to miss Ireland's two-Test series against world champions South Africa this summer.

But having won almost everything else on offer in 15s, and with there being another two years until the next World Cup, the opportunity to return to their roots and possibly win Olympic gold was too good to pass up.

It’s unfair to expect Keenan to have the same impact on Ireland at the Grand Final in Madrid, as Dupont will likely have on France.

But while the Dublin native hasn’t had the same amount of game time as Dupont to get up to speed, he is a big game player to his core.

From Six Nations thrillers in front of 80,000 fans, to a rare series win away in New Zealand, Keenan knows what it takes to win on the biggest stages.

And that is exactly what Ireland may need to be crowned the first-ever SVNS Grand Final champions.

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