IRFU seeking UK based 7s players

The IRFU will host an Open Assessment Day for the 7s at Birmingham University on January 25th.The day will be running from 12-5 pm with registration and a talk from Stan McDowell, the Ireland Women's Emerging 7's Coach.With support from the Irish Sports Council, the IRFU recently made the decision to commit to a long term Women's Sevens Programme with the goal of qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.The programme entails an investment of over €1.1 million a year to create a high performance squad with the aspiration to qualify and successfully compete in Rio in 2016, with top players offered playing contrats.Players, who are Irish qualified, do not need any previous rugby experience to attend the screening camps.Jon Skurr, Ireland Women's 7s Head Coach said:'This assessment day comes at a very exciting time for Irish women's rugby. Both teams performed extremely well last season with the 15s team winning the Six Nations and the 7s team qualifying for the World Series. We now need to expand our playing base so that both teams can regularly compete at the top of both formats of the game.""The assessment days give us a chance to look at elite sportswomen who have the attributes to play International rugby. It will be our job with the support of the Irish Exiles Branch, to identify talented performers and establish pathways that will lead to them representing Ireland in the not to distant future."The requirements to attend the assessment day are that you must have been born in Ireland or qualify through your parents or grandparents

Anyone who wants to attend the camp should contactmark.jackson@irfu.ie