Our congratulations go to Lucy Turkington (Year 14) who was selected for the Ireland Women’s Rugby Sevens Development team, which took part in the Dubai International Invitational Tournament at the start of December.
The team won their first group match 31 – 5 against Thursday Night Lights but struggled against the eventual winners Japan Development going down 0 – 38, both matches played on the first day of the tournament. A much better second day saw the team record a narrow 7 – 0 win over Russia and this was followed up by a 19 – 19 draw in their final group match against Phoenix Rugby 7’s to qualify for the quarter-finals.
In the quarter-final match on day 3 Ireland went down 5 – 19 to the Kenya Lionesses. Lucy was involved in all five matches that the team played. At the end of the tournament, the team was described as “having grown in confidence and statue as the tournament progressed”.
In August Lucy was part of the Ireland squad that competed in the Rugby Europe U18 Women’s Sevens Championship in Jarocin, Poland so the Dubai Tournament was another step in her development.