The final day which took place on Saturday saw the final nations clash for the title and seedings for the upcoming European Championships in Krakow in two weeks. This competition will then decide if the nations can qualify for the Olympic games in Paris this August.

In the two semi-finals which saw underdogs, Georgia put out the performance of their lives to beat France 14-7 in what was a Besik Khamashuridze’s tactical masterclass to keep the French from only scoring one try.

In the second semi-final, it saw two titans of world rugby and bitter rivals Ireland and Great Britain compete. The match was tightly fought and saw the Irish just edging the Brits out by 17-14.

Now to the final where Georgia would have to put out another word-class performance to beat the Irish side which have been on top form throughout the whole weekend. At first, it looked like Georgia could take this title with a try in the first minutes of the match to take a 5-0 lead, but to their disappointment the Irish gathered momentum as the match went on and bet the Georgians 19-10.

The women’s competition produced the most entertaining matches of the Algarve 7s with games going all the way to extra time which is a rare occurrence in rugby. The match was between Germany and Czechia for an important 7th place overall.

The two semis that took place on the final day produced some amazing rugby from the eventual finalists as Great Britain who struggled with some form showed their true potential after comfortably beating Poland 31-7. The second semi-final saw France vs Ireland, this match just showed how good the French are, as they managed to batter the Irish 29-0.

Then the match the fans have been waiting for, the British against the French. At first, it looked like the British could be winning by taking the early lead. But as with the Irish match the French just took off and managed to beat Great Britain 19-7 to secure the Algarve 7s trophy.

For the nations, these performances will give them great confidence going into Krakow for the European Championships in two weeks as it will affect the seedings for fixtures and it will also give them massive confidence going into the competition which has Paris 2024 spots on the cards.

Author

A passionate Irish journalist with a love for cycling, politics and of course Portugal especially their sausage rolls.

Rory Mc Ginn