Trinity Law Graduate Jack Kelly I don’t think you can put anything above the Olympics I reland Men’s Sevens Star and Trinity Law graduate Jack Kelly sees the Olympics as the height of professional sports and is excited to become an Olympian with the rest of the national sevens side. Kelly is a former Leinster Rugby player, who switched to Rugby Sevens and made his World Series debut in London in 2019. Jack captained the Ireland under 20’s in 2017 from full-back but now scrums for the sevens team. Kelly says the team was absolutely delighted to take part in the Men’s Sevens tournament in Tokyo. The 23-year-old believes the Olympics are like nothing else and said before leaving for Japan that the feeling of competing at one is still sinking in. There was a lot of months and weeks during lockdown where not much was going on and now everything’s happening at a hundred miles an hour. It’s a very exciting time for us. The side worked hard since losing out on the first European spot in 2019 and the collective goal that they shared helped them to stay focused throughout the pandemic. The chemistry they honed for several years and hard work since their loss in Colomiers came together in June when they dismantled France in Monaco to book their tickets to Tokyo. Kelly felt that these factors played a big part in their historic victory at the Stade Louis II Stadium. Ireland were drawn in Pool C alongside South Africa, USA and Kenya. First up were the tough South African team and Ireland struggled to get into their game stride, losing 33-14. Next up, they faced USA and in a very close game, USA came out on top 19-17. This meant Ireland had to beat Kenya by more than 7 points to progress to the quarter finals. With Ireland leading the game 12-0, Kenya scored a try in the last minute to deny Ireland that Olympic Quarter Final spot. Having won the game 12-7 they finished third in their pool and went on to contest the 9th-12th placings. Crushing South Korea 31-0 they once again faced Kenya for the playoff spot, with their opponents coming out on top this time with a score of 22-0. While the overwhelming feeling from the team is that coming 10th they did not produce their best level of rugby during the competition, they can be very proud of qualifying, becoming Olympians and representing Ireland on such an international stage. It was an historic and fantastic experience and one they will learn many lessons from for future Olympic appearances.
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