Ireland advanced to the quarter-finals of the Olympic Rugby Sevens with a pair of wins on the opening day of the tournament.
James Topping’s squad were the first representatives in action at the 2024 Games for Team Ireland and booked their spot in the the knock-outs with a game to spare thanks to victories over South Africa and Japan.
After finishing 10th at the delayed Tokyo Games three years ago, Ireland ran in eight tries across Wednesday’s play, beating South Africa 10-5 before crossing for six scores to get the better of Japan by a score of 40-5.
Ireland will now face New Zealand in their final pool game at 15:30 BST on Thursday before the knock-outs begin in the evening session.
After the earlier victory against South Africa, Topping had the luxury of rotating his panel for the game against Japan, ensuring all 12 squad members had featured come the final whistle of the 40-5 victory.
Terry Kennedy was the star of the first half against the Brave Blossoms, following up his earlier try against South Africa by scoring the opener in the game’s first minute.
He would then create the second from well inside his own territory, breaking from deep after a period of Japanese pressure and unselfishly switching the ball inside to Chay Mullins for the score just before half-time.
Early in the second half, Harry McNulty’s intercept try put Ireland in a comfortable position and Topping turned to his bench to see out the win.
Among the replacements were Leinster full-back Hugo Keenan, but it was his fellow substitute Niall Comerford who was next across the whitewash, scoring after McNulty had found his run back against the grain.
Mullins would get his second of the night as Ireland attacked straight from the restart, although Japan responded through Shotaru Tsuoka.
Bryn Ward would ensure Ireland had the final say however, the replacement using a huge fend to create the space for his try in the closing moments.
In their earlier victory over the Blitzboks, Jordan Conroy’s try with the final play of the first half had given Ireland a 5-0 lead at the break.
Kennedy scored a second try with two minutes remaining but South Africa set up a grandstand finish when Shelvyn Davids squeezed over the line with 30 seconds left.