YOUNG AUSTRALIAN SIDE SET DATE AGAINST ENGLAND IN HONG KONG

Apr 7 • General News, Sevens Rugby • 1205 Views • Comments Off on YOUNG AUSTRALIAN SIDE SET DATE AGAINST ENGLAND IN HONG KONG

A young Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens side have finished fourth in their pool to set-up a Challenge Trophy quarter-final clash with England at the HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.

Fielding eight debutants as well as two players returning to the fold for the first time since 2016, the side battled hard and showed promising signs in front of a packed house at Hong Kong Stadium on the first two days.

The young Australian side’s first game was against Spain on Friday night where the Spaniards scored after the final siren to steal a 17-12 win at the death.

The second match of Pool B against Canada didn’t go to plan after the Canadians rocketed out of the blocks quickly and managed to maintain majority possession throughout the contest. The Australians were much improved in the second half but unable to pull back the lead, eventually falling short 34-14.

The Aussies were dealt a blow before the final match against Kenya with Nick Price ruled out, replaced by the eighth debutant of the tournament Nicki Tuvitu.

The side got off to a fast start though with two tries in two minutes before Kenya rallied to even it up at half time. Australia again got out to a 14-point lead in the second half before Kenya fought back to be down by two. The side showing great fight to hold on in the last minute to register their first win of the tournament.

Stand-in Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens coach, Jarred Hodges said: “Kenya are a world class side, we’ve had to learn the hard way in those first two games but the pleasing thing for this young group is they are getting those learns and we saw that in that game.”

“The message tonight is very simple, we’re playing for points.

“We need to build and take that momentum into tomorrow and get a bit more polish around the little things, around what we’re doing on the ground, what we’re doing in terms of our support play.

“If we can fix those little areas up I think we’ll be tough to beat,” Hodges said.

Australia 12 defeated by Spain 17
It was the great unknown as Australia fielded seven debutants in their opening match against Spain at Hong Kong Stadium. The young side skippered by Con Foley got off to a solid start with one of the rookies Nick Price with an attacking run down the sideline before being bundled into touch. The Spaniards then opened the scoring off the resulting line-out with giant Inaki Villanueva slicing through the defence to cross under the black dot. Their lead didn’t last long though as a spirited Aussie side marched down field before a beautiful pass from Henry Clunies-Ross sent Sam Figg over the line to level the scores. Clunies-Ross then got one of his own on debut just before the break to edge 12-7 in front.

The second half was a tight affair as both sides struggled to build momentum and pressure before Ignacio Marti finally crossed to level the scores at 12-all. The Spanish had all the ball in the final five minutes and went heavy on the attack in the final seconds as they looked for a match-winner with the pressure eventually proving too much for the inexperienced side who went down 17-12 in their opener.

Australia 14 defeated by Canada 34
Australia came back and looked to rebound on day two but found themselves up against a classy Canadian outfit led by Nathan Hirayama. Canada with a fast start thanks to a Harry Jones double and the Australians struggled to recover, especially when Sam Figg was shown a yellow card after a high tackle. Nick Price was then forced off for a HIA before the Canadians crossed once more before the break to have a 15-point half-time lead.

Their momentum continued in the second stanza as Justin Douglas got his name on the scoresheet twice before the Aussies finally found their stride through a Jeral Skelton try. Debutant Lachlan Miller followed suit soon after to bring the deficit back to 15 as the Aussies continued to press for more points. However, an intercept try right on full-time left the final score 34-14 to Canada.

Australia 28 defeated Kenya 26
Australia came firing out of the blocks in their final Pool B game in Hong Kong against Kenya with Sam Figg collecting the restart before handing it off to Skelton who got the game off to the perfect start. A second try 30 seconds later to Dylan Pietsch had the Aussies out to a quick 14-nil lead, again thanks to beautiful lead up play from Figg. Kenya responded three minutes later with a try of their own before a marathon passage of play well past the seven-minute mark saw the ball move from try-line to try-line ending with Kenya’s second try to level scores at the break.

The second half got off to the perfect start for the Aussies when Pietsch found himself with room to move before passing the ball to a flying Miller who got his second try of the tournament. Miller had his third shortly after to give the Australians a 14-point lead with two and a half minutes remaining in the match. Kenya weren’t about to lie down though and found themselves back within nine points after getting on the outside and dotting down for their third try of the match. Kenya were down to six men from the restart after taking out Clunies-Ross in the air but still managed to cross the paint to put themselves within two points. The Aussies held tough during the last passage of play to hold on for a 28-26 point win.

Hong Kong Sevens Pool B results
Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens
Australia 12-17 Spain
Australia 14-34 Canada
Australia 31-21 Kenya