Australian Sevens win through to Cup QFs in George
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Australian Sevens coach Michael O’Connor says his young team will rise to the challenge when they meet Kenya in the Cup quarterfinals of the IRB Sevens World Series in George, South Africa on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).
Australia won through to the Cup quarters for the second time in as many tournaments after finishing second, behind Fiji, in Pool B on Friday.
O’Connor’s team played out a hard-fought 14-all draw against Russia in their opening match in George, then fought back to record a solid 21-5 victory over Portugal.
Fiji put an end to Australia’s undefeated run and handed the youngsters a lesson in Sevens with a comprehensive 31-0 drubbing in their final pool match.
Australia suffered a 29-0 loss against South Africa in Dubai last weekend - then bounced back the following day to beat the defending champions 7-0 in the Plate Final.
O’Connor says he hoped his players would rebound in similar fashion from their heavy loss to Fiji, who ended the day undefeated after piling on 50 points against Portugal.
“We got a reality check today and we certainly weren’t at our best but we managed to scrape through again, which is pleasing,” O’Connor said after play wrapped up in George.
“We were completely outclassed in the last game against Fiji, they were absolutely all over us. We were a bit overawed I think.
“Fiji, when they’re on, they’re on. They’re just incredible athletes, like the Kenyans, they scored some unbelievable tries, they turned us inside out.
“Once again it’s a good learning experience for our boys, it remains to be seen how they bounce back tomorrow against Kenya.
“They bounced back last week against South Africa and I’m hoping they’ll learn from this and show the same fight.
“We’ll have our work cut out for us, that’s for sure.”
Along with Fiji, Samoa and England also enjoyed 100 per cent winning records on day one.
Last weekend's Dubai champions New Zealand went down 24-22 against Samoa, the team they beat to claim the first Cup title of the Series.
South Africa drew with Kenya 12-12 in the last seconds of the day, Mzwandile Stick slotted a conversion from the touchline to deny the Kenyans a famous victory.
Results:
FIJI 31 (Osea Kolinisau 2, William Ryder, Emosi Vucago, Sireli Naqelevuki tries; Kolinisau 3 cons) def AUSTRALIA 0
AUSTRALIA 21 (Robbie Coleman, Brackin Karauria-Henry, Clinton Sills tries; Nick Phipps 2 cons, Jacob Taylor con) def PORTUGAL 5 (Goncalo Foro try).
AUSTRALIA 14 (Ed Quirk, Clinton Sills tries; Bernard Foley 2 cons) drew RUSSIA 14 (Alexander Yanyuskin, Vasily Artemyev tries; Lev Sleptsov 2 cons, Yanyuskin con)
Australian Rugby Sevens proudly supported by the Australian Institute of Sport
