AUSTRALIA TAKES FOURTH AT DUBAI SEVENS
The Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens team have claimed some valuable HSBC World Series Points in Dubai overnight, finishing the tournament in fourth place.
The Aussie 7s looked the goods in the first tournament of the 2018-2019 Series with some significantly improved play across the two days.
Australia started day two strongly with a 38-0 victory over Argentina in the Quarter Finals. The men in gold went down in a thriller in the semi-final to the USA, with the Americans finding a way through the Australian line at the death to win (17-22).
In the Bronze medal match, it was Australia’s vanquished Pool D opponents who proved too strong again with a try in the last seconds of play that frustrated what would have been a near perfect day for the men in gold who went down 14-15.
Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens Head Coach, Tim Walsh said: “If we’re honest with ourselves we are not quite there yet; we had a good tournament and we had individuals who put out World class performances but in a prestigious event of the World Series you have to be good every game and you have to be performing in those pressure moments.
“That’s when the good teams do their jobs and do it well. We were very close to winning both those games, but we didn’t and that’s the reality of where we are at. We’re in the top four but we want to be on the podium.
“We lost two games in the last play, that included outstanding performances from the whole team. Maurice Longbottom had his best tournament in the Australian jersey and I thought Tim Anstee John Porch and Lachie Anderson were fantastic.
“Lewis Holland led really well and led the team into battle on and off the field.
“We’ll take our lessons out of this weekend, rest and recover and we will be ready for what is thrown up at Cape Town.”
Australia takes 15 points out of the opening round on the HSBC Sevens World Series Ladder. The top four teams at the conclusion of the Series earn automatic qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Australia 38 defeated Argentina 0
Australia shot out of the blocks in the quarter finals against Los Pumas Sevens, with a try in the opening two minutes through Aussie veteran Jesse Parahi. From then Australia put on a master class of Sevens scoring two more tires before the break to take a 21-0 lead.
The second half saw some brilliant work from Maurice Longbottom and Ben O’Donnell add to the Australia’s success in the match as the men in gold extended their lead to 38-0. A late surge from Argentina was thwarted by the Australian defence, keeping a clean sheet ahead of the semi-finals.
Australia 17 was defeated USA 22
Australia started strongly against the USA, slowly marching their way up field with consistent attack only to be felled by desperate defence that turned over Australia’s ball. The Americans got the ball into the hands of World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year, Perry Baker who kicked and regathered to score underneath the posts. The US backed it up straight away with a secondary try to extend their lead to 0-12. Australia finally earned some reward on the scoreboard with a try to Lachie Anderson who put the ball in both hands and burned the defence down the sideline (5-12). Australia levelled the scores heading into a break with a speedy inside run from John Porch who sliced through the USA defence to score underneath the posts (12-12).
Australia started the second half with a rolling maul that marched the men in gold well into American territory. Perry Baker was sent to the sin bin for a deliberate knock down and Australia wasted no time stretching the defence, putting Porch over in the corner for his second try of the game to take a 17-12 lead. The USA regained possession and a desperate Australian defence held out several phases of attack, eventually the pressure was too much and the USA scored in the corner to level the scores with less than a minute to play. As both teams hit peak exhaustion levels, it was the USA that was able to find a way to win with their Forward Danny Barrett scoring in the corner to leave Australia to battle England for third place.
Australia 14 was defeated by England 15
A brilliant run off the opening play from Lachie Anderson was the start Australia wanted as they camped in England’s half. John Porch was the first to cross the white line, breaking through one tackle to give Australia a 7-0 lead. England struck back immediately, scoring in the corner taking the score to 7-5. With ball in hand Maurice Longbottom looked towards the line and seeing no sweeper, kicked through the wall of white jerseys, for a barnstorming Lachie Anderson, who kicked the ball again to score next to the posts and give the Aussies a 14-5 lead at the break.
England scored first in the season half to lower the gap to four points (14-10) and camped in Australia’s half as they built more pressure. It was desperate defence from the Aussies that continued to repel England, but it was to be heartbreak again for the Aussie 7s who went down at the death 14-15 with a try in the last second of play. Australia finished in fourth and took valuable Series points out of Dubai heading into Cape Town.
HSBC Sevens World Series Standings
1.New Zealand, 22 points
2. USA, 19 points
3. England, 17 points
4. Australia, 15 points
5. Fiji, 13 points
6. South Africa, 12 points
7. Scotland, 10 points
8. Argentina, 10 points
9. Samoa, 8 points
10. France, 7 points
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