Ireland have been promoted to the elite level of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series for 2020 after winning the Hong Kong series this morning.
Ireland powered to a 28-7 victory against hosts Hong Kong in the series final, meaning they will become one of the 15 core teams in the series from next season as focus shifts to qualification for the 2020 Tokyo olympics.
Ireland defeated Germany earlier this morning in a 19-10 nail-biter, but were comfortable in the decider from the outset thanks to an early try from Harry McNulty.
Two tries either side of the break from Greg O'Shea and Jordan Conroy gave Ireland a commanding lead, but Tom McQueen went over for the hosts before Terry Kennedy put the gloss on a monumental victory for Ireland.
Speaking of the achievement, captain Tom Dardis said: "We're just delighted. To reflect on this, the last 16 to 24 months have been a long, hard road. At the end, we all just stood on the pitch, we couldn't move. We're just speechless, it's class.
"In previous years we may have underestimated this three-day tournament and how competitive it is. Every team was going to be desperate so it will be extra hard.
"If we can qualify for the Olympics in the summer, then that will be two boxes ticked."
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