Kildare man Dardis to captain Irish rugby 7s side in Russia this weekend
Naas man Billy Dardis will have the honour of captaining Ireland at the upcoming Rugby Europe Grand Prix event in Moscow when he leads out the country's 7s team in Russia.
Dardis has been a regular in the 7s setup since last year, and he will be joined by fellow Naas men Jimmy O'Brien and Fionn Carr, the latter of whom helped guide Naas RFC to a second place finish in the Ulster Bank League Division 1B this year.
O'Brien was playing with the Irish U20 team this time last year at the World Cup, and he has been retained as part of the 12-man squad for the trip across Europe. They will take on Wales, Germany and Georgia in their pool games this Saturday.
"The players involved in the programme this season have been working hard in training over the past number of weeks in build up to the Grand Prix Series.
They've competed against some strong opposition at the likes of the Dublin 7s and the Amsterdam 7s as part of preparation for the Series and I know they're looking forward to getting out there and playing this weekend.
We're in a tough pool for the opening round, with Wales performing well on the World Sevens Series this season, while Germany have a strong Sevens programme in place and Georgia are always a strong and physical side, so it will be important that the players are focused throughout each game as we look to get things off to a good start.”
Ireland Men's 7s Squad – Rugby Europe Grand Prix – Round 1: Moscow Fionn Carr (Naas) Jordan Conroy (Buccaneers) Billy Dardis (UCD) Ian Fitzpatrick (Lansdowne/Leinster) Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster) Terry Kennedy (St. Mary's College/Leinster) Mick McGrath (Clontarf) Harry McNulty (UCD) Jimmy O'Brien (UCD/Leinster) John O'Donnell (Lansdowne) Mark Roche (Lansdowne) Nick Timoney (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)
Ireland Fixtures – Pool Am Saturday 3 June 2017 - Moscow Ireland v Wales - 10am (local time) / 8am (Irish time) Ireland v Germany – 1.07pm (local time) / 11.07am (Irish time) Ireland v Georgia – 3.52pm (local time) / 1.52pm (Irish time)