With a memorable Fifa World Cup having just drawn to a close, one could be forgiven for not having noted the Rugby World Cup Sevens coming into view but for Bahrain-born Harry McNulty, it is the culmination of three years of hard work.
As has been the case since the Ireland Sevens programme was launched back in 2015, the former St Christopher’s School student will be a key part of the 13-man squad for this weekend’s event in AT&T Park in San Francisco, California.
Despite their establishment at the top table of international rugby in the men’s 15-a-side game, Ireland’s feelings towards the abbreviated format could never be described as warm, to the extent that they did not even appear at the previous world cup event in Russia in 2013.
Since the appointment of Anthony Eddy as Director of Sevens Rugby however, the team has seen a rapid rise from Rugby Europe’s Division C in June 2015 to silver medallists in last year’s Grand Prix Series, and 25-year-old McNulty has been an ever-present throughout.
It’s been a journey of undoubted highs for McNulty and co over the last three years but they have also faced the disappointment of missing out on a core team place on next season’s HSBC World Sevens Series following a semi-final defeat to Japan in the Hong Kong qualifier semi-finals in April.
The team managed to put that disappointment behind them in emphatic fashion earlier this summer as they became the first invitational side in the series’ history to make the knockout stages of a main event by stunning hosts England to the bronze medal at the London Sevens and followed up by qualifying for the quarter-finals in Paris the next week.
It is that form that McNulty and his team-mates will hope to carry into their opening qualifying round fixture against Chile in the early hours of Saturday morning, with the winners earning a shot at World Sevens Series champions South Africa in the last 16.