Singapore Sevens: resurgent Ireland banishing ‘impostor syndrome’, says bullish legend Brian O’Driscoll
- Final leg of HSBC SVNS Series begins in Singapore on Friday; Argentina and New Zealand, respectively, lead men’s and women’s standings
- Overall season champions will be determined in Madrid grand finals event, Ireland men could go to Spain as league winners
Brian O’Driscoll said Ireland’s thriving men’s sevens team have banished their “impostor syndrome”, and are ready to claim a landmark first HBSC SVNS Series tournament victory.
The Irish’s latest opportunity to break their duck, five years after beating Hong Kong in a straight shoot-out for core world series status, comes at the Singapore Sevens, which begins on Friday.
Added incentive for the final event of the regular season is supplied by Ireland’s position on the shoulders of Argentina at the top of the series standings. They trail the South Americans by eight points, after finishing third in last month’s Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens. That bronze effort followed two previous third-places this season.
Ireland, who established a full-time sevens programme only nine years ago this month, were runners-up in Dubai last season, and in Toulouse in the previous campaign.
The draw for Singapore has placed Ireland in a group with Fiji – third in the 12-team table – USA and Great Britain. Argentina face New Zealand – winners in Hong Kong – Australia and Canada.
Former 15s superstar O’Driscoll, whose 141 appearances for Ireland and the British & Irish Lions make him the fifth-highest-capped test player, told the Post: “The next step for Ireland is to win one of these events, and they are very close.
“We have a really good sevens structure in place … but there is also an element of faking it until you make it. It is natural in life to [mentally] put people ahead of you, to confer higher status on them. But why should it not be possible to compete with teams, just because they got there before you? In a physical sport, if you win some battles, and learn from those where you come off second best, you improve for next time. Then all of a sudden, you realise you belong there.
“The impostor syndrome leaves you, and you regularly compete. You just have to break the seal, then consistently remind yourself that you are not out of your depth.”
Harry McNulty, the Ireland captain, was part of the sevens evolution from the outset, playing against Turkey, Montenegro and Belarus in Rugby Europe Division C back in 2015.
O’Driscoll, in turn, mirrored the views of McNulty, who previously heaped praise on David Nucifora, the Australian outgoing performance director of the Irish Rugby Football Union, for championing the development of sevens.
“We have to give him a lot of credit – he was a big sevens advocate, and thought it was an important vehicle for developing the next generation of players,” O’Driscoll, a Global Brand Ambassador for HSBC, said. “He has been proven correct.
“In the past, players would start in sevens, and move to 15s, which was the much bigger focus in Ireland. In the past few years, there has not been much movement, and look at the quality they have delivered. They are sevens players, and have consistently performed in that code.”
Ireland’s women beat the men to the punch in terms of world series success, claiming their maiden title in January’s Perth leg.
“The women had that breakthrough, and the two groups have done extremely well in becoming team units,” O’Driscoll said. “There is some stardust, the likes of Terry Kennedy [world player of the year in 2022, when Ireland were World Cup semi-finalists], but both sides have strong cores.”
Ireland have never progressed beyond the quarter-finals of a 15s World Cup, and O’Driscoll points out only four nations have won that tournament.
“The beauty of sevens is that, on any given day, anyone can win,” he said. “As a rugby nation, we are batting way above our average.
“It is the fourth sport in Ireland, behind Gaelic football, hurling and soccer, but participation numbers are increasing, and the sevens teams are reaching very high levels.”
Ireland’s women, seventh in the series table, are in a group with New Zealand, Canada and Spain in Singapore.
The top eight nations after the Singapore leg will vie for the title of overall champions at a stand-alone, season-ending grand finals event in Madrid.
