Ireland women’s rugby sevens can qualify for Rio on home soil

Ireland women’s rugby sevens team can qualify for Rio 2016 on home soil after it was announced the IRFU have been selected to host the Olympics repechage tournament.

The World Rugby Women’s Sevens Olympic Repechage Tournament will be held at the UCD Bowl on June 25th and June 26th next year.

There is one remaining place at Rio up for grabs and Ireland will be competing against 16 other teams for the final spot.

Kazahkstan, China, Hong Kong, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Samoa, Cook Islands, Uruguay and Argentina are the other sides who will be present at the tournament.

This announcment comes after it was announced earlier this year the 2017 women’s RugbyWorld Cup will also be held in Ireland.

On the announcement David Nucifora, the Irish Rugby High Performance Director, said: "We are delighted with today's announcement that Ireland is going to host the World Rugby Women's Sevens Olympic Repechage Tournament with the support of Sport Ireland.

“Having successfully hosted the recent World Rugby Women’s Sevens Qualifying Tournament in August, it a fantastic opportunity to bring world class Sevens back to Ireland and UCD.

“This gives us another great opportunity to showcase Women’s sevens in Ireland and with a place in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio up for grabs, it is an extremely important tournament for all the teams involved.”