Hugo Keenan puts his hand up as Ireland face up to gold-plated Fiji test
The Leinster and Ireland 15s star admits the Sevens have to be flawless to take down the champions after disappointment of last-gasp defeat to New Zealand
Hugo Keenan concedes that Ireland must be pitch perfect against Fiji to keep their Olympic medal hope alive tonight.
Keenan crossed the divide back to the Sevens game from the 15s to experience Paris 2024, in the process missing Leinster's URC semi-final exit and Ireland's draw series in South Africa.
So he wants this to be a very meaningful Games but, just like Antoine Dupont with France, it hasn't all been wine and roses at the Stade de France ahead of the Opening Ceremony on the Seine on Friday.
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While Ireland rode the crest of a wave yesterday in beating South Africa and Japan, this afternoon's defeat to New Zealand in the final Pool A game will be difficult for Keenan to swallow over the next couple of hours.
With just over a minute to go against the Kiwis, James Topping's side were on course for a re-match with South Africa this evening for a place in the semi-finals.
Ireland deserved to win but, New Zealand did what they do in big games against Ireland, they found a way. Ngarahi McGarvey-Black's late try was backed up by Andrew Knewstubb's conversion for a 14-12 victory.
So Ireland must instead play the reigning Olympic champions Fiji in the last eight at 9pm Irish time, and may well be without their prolific try-scorer Jordan Conroy, who was injured in scoring on the stroke of half-time.
To put Ireland's task in context, Fiji have won all 15 of their fixtures in the Olympic Games on the way to gold in Rio (2016) and Tokyo.
"Yeah, we're disappointed, definitely," Keenan said. "We obviously came out strongly, putting in that first half performance that we were looking for.
"We just didn't back it up, we made a few mistakes - and not taking a few crucial chances that we could have to to put it to bed. "But at the same time we're exactly where we are, where we want to be in a quarter-final, competing for a medal. It's a huge opportunity and we're really excited.
"And I think that performance was definitely a step up from the last two that we've put in, it's just I suppose getting that 14, 15, 16 minute performance. "And I think we'll definitely need that this one to come. There'll be no room for air against this Fiji side. We all know what they're capable of, what form they're taking into it. They're obviously gold medal holders already.
"So they have the experience but we know ourselves that we can compete with anyone, watching the lads in the World Series for the whole year.
"They've shown that on our day with a performance that we can beat anyone and I think we've grown from there as well. So, there's a lot of belief within the group. We just know we're just going to have to get a proper full performance to do it."
Keenan is always straight up in saying how it is and he puts his hand up. He played Sevens for Ireland in the past, helping them reach the repechage finals for the Tokyo Games and a debut appearance subsequently followed for the team while he successfully pursued his 15s ambitions.
So having come back into the frame in the run-up to the Games, it's no surprise that he is still shaking off some rust. He had a great chance to add a quick-fire second try to Zac Ward's scintillating first in the first half, but he knocked on in the tackle.
Later, as Ireland hunted for the killer try that would put the contest beyond the Kiwis, it was Keenan who was turned over in front of New Zealand's try line.
"Yeah, that was just a mistake on my behalf," Keenan said of the earlier knock-on. "It's a little bit greasy out there but that's no excuse I should have taken it and should have finished it, but I'll just have to move on with and take the learnings from and just stay in the moment a bit better.
"We'll review it now. It's a short turnaround, I suppose that's the beauty of Sevens. You can put up behind you pretty quickly, you're not waiting around the full week to right a few wrongs.
"So there's plenty of learnings, plenty of bits to improve on in that performance. We'll definitely need to if we want to go further into the semis.
"Fiji have obviously got the experience, but the lads will take good confidence that we've competed against them all year and um and we can compete with any team in the competition if we get our systems right, if we play to our potential and put in a performance that we know are capable of.
"That's the ruthless nature of playing against these top teams. You just can't be making silly mistakes and there's probably one or two too many of them.
"I put my hand up for certainly one or two of them as well. So it's good learnings from us. But these are the stakes and that's why we want to be here to test ourselves in in those environments and in these conditions."
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