Australia miss NZ rugby sevens quarters

Jan 28, 2017 - 7:43 AM Australia have failed to reach the quarter-finals of their second successive rugby sevens tournament after losing to heavyweights Fiji and South Africa in Wellington.

Andy Friend's young injury-hampered side pushed Olympic champions Fiji close, leading 12-5 at halftime through tries to Alex Gibbon and Henry Hutchison.

A Fijian side missing several of their Rio heroes pulled away late through tries to Joeli Lutumailagi, Alivereti Veitokani and captain Osea Kolinisau to win 26-12.

Series leaders South Africa joined Fiji on two wins out of two after a polished 28-0 shutout of the Australians.

The Blitzboks led 7-0 through Werner Kok at the break before Siviwe Soyizwape, Dylan Sage and Chris Dry crossed.

An injury to Boyd Killingworth added to Australia's woes with club captain Lewis Holland, Ed Jenkins and Jesse Parahi also unavailable.

Coach Friend said Fiji was the big game they wanted to target.

"Going up 12-5 at halftime, we had the chance to really take the opportunities to win the match. They took their chances like we knew they would and they overpowered us in the end which was disappointing.

"I am seeing massive potential in our youngsters but it takes time. Sevens takes time to learn the game and to become familiar with the pressure of the game under massive fatigue," Friend said.

Australia managed to finish Saturday on a winning note with a 33-12 victory over Japan.

Two wins, including a triumph over former mentor Sir Gordon Tietjens, have guaranteed New Zealand a quarter-final berth.

The three-time defending champion All Blacks Sevens accounted for Samoa 33-7 before holding out France 21-14 in their opening pool matches.

The Samoan win was particularly poignant as it was the first game in charge for ex-Kiwi coach of 22 years, Sir Gordon Tietjens.

The All Blacks sevens dominated possession to lead 21-0 at halftime and pour cold water on Tietjens' return to Wellington, where he enjoyed unrivalled success.

Captain Scott Curry scored the first try and had a second before the break, while the other tries went to Sherwin Stowers, Tim Mikkelson and DJ Forbes.

Stowers found the tryline again against France while Rocky Khan and Sione Molia crossed before holding off a late French charge.

Other unbeaten teams through two rounds are England and Canada.

England looked classy in crushing Papua New Guinea 40-0 and Argentina 26-7.

Canada, ranked 13th after two rounds of the world series, toppled fourth-placed Scotland 28-19 and sixth-placed Wales 28-5.

Australia will play in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals on Sunday morning against the fourth-placed finishers in Pool C - either France or Samoa.

"Our aim is to win three games tomorrow (Sunday). We'll have our work cut out to try and win those games but that's our target," Friend said.

"We'd like to go into Sydney (next round) as highly ranked as we can."

Source: AAP