Injury hit Aussie 7s finish Wellington in 10th
The Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens team has finished the Wellington Sevens in 10th position with two wins out of a possible three on day two of competition.
Australia started day two with a tight 17-14 win over Samoa, before accounting for Wales 24-10 to make the Challenge Trophy Final. An injury-hit Australia fell at the final hurdle going down to Kenya 17-19 to finish Wellington in 10th position.
Head Coach Andy Friend said: “I was really impressed with the performance of the young guys and the whole team.
“Tate McDermott has been picked out of nowhere to represent his country and he has handled himself really well on the world stage. There is some really good youth coming through which is pleasing and it was impressive how they stood up this weekend.
“I thought today we came out and played some really good rugby against Samoa and we were really focused against Kenya. The tenth is not what we want but there are some really good signs there moving forward.
“We’ll have a look at finalising the squad (for Sydney) on Wednesday but at the end of the day we’ll have 12 fit players who will be very chuffed to play on their home soil in front of their family and friends.”
The Aussie 7s injury list for Wellington includes Boyd Killingworth (shoulder), Sam Myers (shoulder) and Alex Gibbon (ankle) with all three men succumbing to injuries over the weekend.
Australia 17 defeated Samoa 14
Australia started the match well with a try to Henry Hutchison in the corner of the back of a great pass from Charlie Taylor but a string of consistent penalties piggy-backed Samoa up the field allowing them to take the lead. A late try to Samoa in the final minute of the first half extended their lead to 5-14. Australia earning some much-needed possession on the half-time siren and Charlie Taylor picked up a kick behind to narrow the gap to 12-14.
The Aussie 7s shot out of the blocks in the second half, with a diving try in the corner by Taylor to give Australia a narrow 17-14 lead. Samoa was reduced to six men with a high shot landing firmly on Henry Hutchison’s chin with three minutes left to go in the match. Tim Anstee saving the game for Australia with seconds to go after making a try-saving tackle to secure the match.
Australia 24 defeated Wales 10
With both teams desperate to ensure the highest seeding possible heading into the HSBC Sydney 7s, Wales and Australia held nothing back in the opening stages of the match. The first points came to Australia off a brilliant offload from the in-form Charlie Taylor who put his Captain Sam Myers into space to give Australia a 5-nil lead. Tate McDermott added to his try-scoring for the weekend for the Aussie 7s second try to extend the lead to 10 points. Australia earned a penalty in the final seconds of the first half and the young side showed patience to gain some territory before McDermott sliced through the line to put Taylor over for his second try of the match.
Wales struggled to maintain any possession in the second half with the Aussie 7s racing out to a 24-nil lead after another McDermott try gave Australia a healthy gap on the scoreboard. Adam Thomas and Tom Williams broke the Welsh drought with two tries to narrow the gap to 24-10, however, an Australian victory was already guaranteed.
Australia 17 were defeated by Kenya 19
The injury-ravaged Australian team, now without Captain Sam Myers, headed into the match looking to finish in 9th position. Kenya shot out to a 0-7 lead early in the match with the Australian defence left wanting out wide. Despite some spirited defence by the Men in Gold, Kenya capitalised on the depleted Aussies to take a 0-14 lead. Finally able to earn some possession it did not take long for the Aussies to cross the try-line with Tate McDermott combining with Henry Hutchison to put the latter over to narrow the score to 7-14 at half time.
Kenya continued their good form with a try to Billy Odhiambo after the break, who chased a kick through to score and extend the African nation’s lead to 7-19. Australia’s younger generation again stood up, though, with young gun Dylan Pietsch scoring his first International try after the 18-year old ran the perfect line to give the Aussie 7s a sniff of victory. A late try in the corner to Australia through Michael Adams gave veteran James Stannard the opportunity to level the match with the conversion, but in some windy Wellington conditions, the ball slid to the right of the posts to hand Kenya ninth place in Wellington.
HSBC Sevens World Series, Wellington, Day 2 results:
Australia 17-14 Samoa
Australia 24-10 Wales
Australia 17-19 Kenya
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