Olympic medal dream over for Offaly's Megan and rugby teammates

THE Paris Olympics medal dream for young Tullamore woman Megan Burns is over after the Ireland rugby team were beaten in the Women's Sevens quarter-final on Monday night.

From the start Australia's Madison Levi touched down twice at Stade de France after two tapped penalties to put the 2016 champions 12-0 up and in control after just four minutes.

Burns was involved from the scrum-half position on several occasions as Ireland ran at the Australians but the Wallabies' ability to turn over the ball saw the Irish attacks founder.

The powerful Madison Levi broke through again for a swift hat-trick of tries and Faith Nathan crossed the line from the kick-off after number three.

Three of the four Aussie tries were converted so Ireland were 26-0 down at the interval.

Burns returned to the pitch for the second half and Ireland suffered an early blow when Beibhin Parsons had to leave because of an injury.

Ireland introduced some fresh legs and Burns (pictured below) was given a rest but Australia turned on the style again.

Another converted try widened the gulf to 33-0 but Stacey Flood got Ireland a deserved try and Emer Higgins added the two points with less than two minutes left.

Australia went over again before the last whistle and the final score was 40-7.

Olympic champions in 2016 and silver medallists in Tokyo, Australia next meet Canada in the semi-final.

Ireland now go on to the play-offs to determine if they finish fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth in the Olympics.

Earlier today, Burns played a starring role in a very impressive first half display for Ireland in their third and final Pool B match against Australia.

As Ireland responded to an Aussie score from the kick-off, Burns kept the ball moving from the back of a series of rucks through several quick phases before finally Eve Higgins scored a try after the girls in green forced a penalty.

The score was 7-7 in the last minute of first half regulation time but before the hooter went Australia scored an unconverted try to make it 12-7 at the break.

Ireland poured forward again after the restart and were desperately close to the line but fell victim to a swift Australia breakaway and a try for Madison Levi.

Higgins crossed the line again for Ireland and Australia's Tia Hinds was sin-binned but the Irish lost 19-14 and qualified for the quarter-final as one of the best third placed teams in the three pools.

Burns had played in Ireland's Pool B opener against Great Britain which ended in a 21-12 defeat with two Irish tries from Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe putting the girls 12-7 ahead at the interval.

Burns was picked to start again in the second outing against South Africa and played the full match as Ireland trounced their opponents 38-0 with two tries from Beibhinn Parsons and one each from Eve Higgins, Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe, Stacey Flood and Vicki Elmes Kinlan.