The Ireland men's team have won the Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series for the first time after dominating the final tournament with a clean sweep of wins in Lodz, Poland.
Having already won the first two rounds in Moscow and Marcoussis and taken the bronze medal in Exeter in round three, Ireland finished 16 points clear of nearest rivals Germany in the overall series standings. Defending champions Russia had to settle for third place.
For the third time this season the top two sides met in the Cup final in Lodz, and it was Ireland again who came out on top.
First-half braces from Terry Kennedy, the series' top try scorer with 23 tries in 18 games, and Jordan Conroy had Ireland well in front of the Germans, leading 28-0 at half-time, and they added a closing score from replacement Adam Leavy. Earlier in the day, captain Billy Dardis and his team-mates cruised past Sweden (47-5) and a France development side (42-0) to reach the decider.
Ireland impressively won 23 of their 24 matches across the series - only losing to England in the Exeter semi-final - and finished with a new record tally of 76 series points. They amassed 120 tries and conceded only 22.
Milestone achievement
It is another milestone achievement for Ireland’s men, following on from their historic bronze medal at the London Sevens in June and the Challenge success at Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco in July.
In just over three years, Ireland have risen from Division C to become Grand Prix Series champions, and the next target is to qualify for the world series via the global qualification tournament in Hong Kong in April. They fell short in their first attempt earlier this year, losing in the semi-finals to eventual qualifiers Japan.
At the bottom of Rugby Europe Grand Prix Series standings, Sweden are relegated to the second-tier Trophy division and will be replaced by Romania next season.