Sports fans often bemoan a lack of honesty from those in charge. Wednesday’s announcement of the culling of the Irish men’s sevens programme, while controversial in many quarters, cannot be accused of lacking honest reasoning.
There, written in ink, was an explanation for the decision. Sevens “does not contribute as a development pathway for the 15s game, with current academy structures in place within the provinces offering greater development opportunities for men’s rugby”.
Countless players disagreed. Former captain Harry McNulty described the IRFU’s justification as “fabricated”.
“From the inception in 2015, there have been players in our programme who have gone back to 15s every single year,” he said.
Who is right?
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In a way, McNulty has a point. Since the first squad of this generation of sevens was picked back in 2015, each season has featured names who subsequently went on to feature in provincial rugby.
That very first squad included Tadhg Beirne, Adam Byrne, Tom Daly and Alex Wooton. In 2016, Byrne, Daly and Wooton were joined by Barry Daly. At the time, the UCD wing was not affiliated with a province. He signed with Leinster later that year, going on to score 19 tries in 36 appearances.
In 2017 Nick Timoney and Jimmy O’Brien featured in Sevens while in provincial academies. The 2018 list includes O’Brien, Rob Baloucoune, Will Connors, Shane Daly and Hugo Keenan.
In 2019, Jack Daly, Shane Daly, Cormac Izuchukwu and Peter Sullivan were all named in sevens squads. During the 2019/20 season, Leinster’s Liam Turner also featured.
The 2021/22 campaign featured the highest number of future full-time 15s players: Chris Cosgrave (Leinster), Shane Jennings (Connacht), Liam Turner (Leinster), Ben Moxham (Ulster), Zac Ward (Ulster), Jude Postlethwaite (Ulster), Chay Mullins (Connacht) and Andrew Smith (Connacht/Munster) were all involved.
From the 2022/23 season onwards, the sevens programme selected less from provincial academies, instead relying largely on club players. One province described sevens as an “issue”, particularly when final-year academy players fighting to earn a senior contract were taken away from 15s. In internal meetings, the same province disagreed with the IRFU’s then position, when David Nucifora was in situ, that sevens helped develop skillsets relevant to 15s.
From 2023-2024, Andrew Smith, originally on Leinster’s books before moving to Connacht, was one of the only provincial players involved in the sevens programme. Chay Mullins, initially listed as an IQ Rugby player, started to be listed as a Connacht affiliate in squad announcements. He signed his first pro contract with the province in 2024.
The 2023/24 season saw Connacht’s Shane Jennings involved at times, alongside Mullins. Smith returned from his first season out west to play in the Olympics alongside Mullins, Zac Ward and Hugo Keenan. In the most recent sevens campaign, only Daniel Hawkshaw provided provincial representation. The 23-year-old is in Connacht’s academy.
What, then, to make of it all? Is McNulty right in his assessment that sevens helped players move back into 15s?
Most of those listed above were in provincial academies while on the sevens circuit. It is difficult, if not impossible, to say if these academy players would have gone on to similar careers with or without sevens.
In terms of finding late bloomers outside of academies, success is equally difficult to quantify. Barry Daly and Peter Sullivan played sevens before making provincial debuts, albeit not extensively. Both wingers, they displayed prolific try-scoring form in the AIL prior to becoming pros. Cormac Izuchukwu was not with a province when he featured, but was it sevens, a stint in Scottish club rugby or both which convinced Ulster to sign him in 2020?
If anything, the non-provincial success stories have come in the years leading up to the programme’s demise. While Andrew Smith was on Leinster’s books, he only featured in two provincial games. He played Sevens for the guts of three years, earning a Connacht contract that didn’t work out before arriving at Munster, starting on the wing during their recent Champions Cup run.
Bristol native Chay Mullins could turn into a success story. The World Series offered playing time between under-20s and professional rugby, bridging a gap which led to a Connacht debut this season. Were it not for injury, he figured to be in contention for the recent Ireland A squad. The opportunity to use sevens to assess foreign-born players has now disappeared.
Like Mullins, Zac Ward wasn’t involved in senior rugby prior to Sevens. Ulster offered him a trial after the Olympics. Ward himself is definitive on the value of the format: “I wouldn’t be where I am now without sevens.”
Others who did go down the provincial academy route have also pointed to sevens’ influence. Keenan, one of the academy players, has also praised the role of the short format in his development, saying his recent Olympics stint would be a “jump start” to “improve different areas.”
As recently as 12 months ago, the IRFU agreed with these players. Now, with Nucifora gone and David Humphreys in charge, the rugby ideology has changed. The thinking on the academy players appears to be that they would have become just as good without sevens.
The handful of external gems polished into pros, while heart-warming stories, don’t appear to represent a satisfactory return on investment. Yet as another Olympic cycle kicks into gear, with settled squads given time to grow, would we have seen more stories like Ward’s?
After Wednesday’s announcement, we’ll never know the answer. The power has shifted to the opposite side of the sevens debate. The blazers no longer agree with the players.
