There’s been non-stop rugby news for the past number of weeks.

Since the out-of-the-blue announcement by the IRFU that Ireland will field a women’s sevens side, it has been all go for the players in training camps and tournaments – and the pace will continue through the summer. And in the space of just two days, the IRFU has spoiled us with no less than five videos to tell us all about what we can expect over the coming months – and hopefully years.

Tomorrow in Amsterdam, Ireland faces Canada, Spain and France in the Amsterdam Sevens tournament. This follows their recent win at the Kinsale Sevens competition.

After you’ve recovered from the excitement of watching Katie Taylor in the World Boxing Championships final (come on, Katie!), you can sit down to watch the live stream of Ireland’s rugby side take to the field. (Come on, Irish Lightning!) You can also follow the action on Twitter, using the #amsterdamsevens hashtag.

According to Scrumhalf Connection in the States, Ireland is in Pool B, and their fixtures tomorrow are as follows:

1:20pm Canada v Ireland
3:20pm Spain v Ireland
6:10pm France v Ireland

How they perform in the Saturday will determine their games and position on Sunday.

A note about 7s rugby

Unlike the 15-a-side rugby squads we may be familiar with from the likes of the Six Nations championship, the 7-a-side format of rugby is a faster game, and requires more fitness, skill and ball-handling ability. The games are also starkly different from the 80 minute slog endured by the 15s squads. Instead, the 7s teams play short games of two halves of seven minutes with a half-time break of one minute, and can be expected to play several games in one day.

Followers of the 15s squad who lined out for the recent Six Nations will notice a healthy mix of some experienced and new faces among the team named by coach John Skurr for this weekend’s games:

Ashleigh Baxter
Lynne Cantwell
Nikki Caughey
Amy Davis
Jeannette Feighery
Shannon Houston
Ashling Hutchings
Claire Keohane
Alison Miller
Claire Molloy
Joy Neville
Laura O’Mahony
Sophie Spence