The Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens team has fallen to England on the final day of the USA 7s, leaving Australia to take seventh position alongside South Africa.
Australia was level with England at the break but were unable to rein in England’s quicker men to go down in the fifth-place semi-final.
The Aussie 7s will meet New Zealand, Spain and France in Pool C at the Canada Sevens in Vancouver this coming weekend.
.Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens Head Coach Tim Walsh said: “We were outplayed by an experienced and polished England team as opposed to beating ourselves like we did yesterday. “It’s disappointing again to go from a very possible podium finish, to bowing out in seventh place.
“The halfway point of the series has delivered us many missed opportunities which is both frustrating and disappointing, but also serves as a powerful motivator for the second half of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
“Taking our game to the next level is something that we will revel in and we look forward to meeting the challenge.”
Australia remain in sixth position on the HSBC Sevens World Series ladder, trailing South Africa (67) and England (68).
The USA leads the overall series, having won the USA 7s on Monday on 98 points with New Zealand (93) and Fiji (84) rounding out the top three places.
Australia 14 was defeated by England 33
On the third day of the USA 7s, Australia started well against England, marching slowly into English territory. Simon Kennewell created space out wide allowing John Porch to crash over in the corner. England came back through the power and speed of Dan Norton levelling the scores at 7-7. Neither side could break through for the remainder of the first half as both teams scored a try apiece to level scores at 14-14 at the break.
The second half saw Jesse Parahi sent to the sin bin for a high tackle, that allowed England to scored off the proceeding play. England’s Will Muir scored a counter attacking try with Australia defenders stretched allowing England to extend the lead to 14-28. A final try to England ended any chance of an Australian recovery, allowing England to take the match 14-33.
