Ireland secures final spot for Tokyo Olympics men's rugby 7s

MONACO (AP) — Ireland secured its place at the Tokyo Olympics with a 28-19 win over France in the men's rugby sevens qualifier final on Sunday.

France and Russia secured the remaining places in the 12-team women's tournament for the Tokyo Games with emphatic wins in the last-ditch repechage at Monaco.

Ireland trailed France 12-7 at halftime in the men's final but rallied with a pair of second-half tries from Jordan Conroy.

France routed Samoa 31-0 in the semifinals at Monaco's Stade Louis II, and Ireland beat Hong Kong 28-5.

In the women's edition, France was the 51-0 runaway winner against Hong Kong. Russia thrashed Kazakhstan 38-0 in the other qualifier final to secure its Olympic debut.

The men’s rugby sevens tournament kicks off on July 26 and will be followed by the women’s competition.

Rugby Sevens made its debut at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where Australia won the women's title and Fiji won the gold medal in the men's tournament.

___

More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports