Ireland's final Olympic push

They have been drawn into Pool A, which is one of the most challenging groups featuring Samoa, who claimed the Paris stage of the World Sevens Series last May, as well as Tonga and Zimbabwe.

The team go into the tournament off the back of a successful weekend at the Europe Trophy competition in Malmö in Sweden. They beat hosts Sweden 57-0 in the final to claim top spot in the first leg of the Trophy competition.

The 12-man squad, which will be captained by Leinster Academy's Tom Daly, contains fellow Leinster Academy players Adam Byrne, Billy Dardis and Ian Fitzpatrick. Byrne and Dardis are joined in the squad by their UCD teammates Barry Daly and Harry McNulty.

Munster Academy players Dan Goggin and Alex Wootton are named in the side, as is Josh Rowland, who has been involved with the Sevens panel for a number of weeks. Buccaneers' Shane Layden, St. Mary's RFC's Steve Toal-Lennon and Clontarf's Mick McGrath complete the squad.

"The side have been developing well over the past number of months and last weekend's result in Malmö shows that we have a talented group of players in our squad.

"This competition is going to be a big challenge. Obviously every team is there to win and be rewarded with the final position in Rio. We've been drawn with Samoa, who are certainly one of the favourites in the competition, also in our pool are Tonga and Zimbabwe and they have a lot of Sevens experience," Anthony Eddy said.

Ireland Sevens: Adam Byrne, Tom Daly (captain), Barry Daly, Billy Dardis, Ian Fitzpatrick, Dan Goggin, Shane Layden, Mick McGrath, Harry McNulty, Josh Rowland, Steve Toal-Lennon, Alex Wootton.

Ireland Sevens Squad Fixtures:

(all times are local - GMT plus two)

Saturday, June 18

11.22:  v Zimbabwe

14.15: v Samoa

17.30: v Tonga

Sunday, June 19

Play-offs