The Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens team has had a significantly improved day two of the HSBC Cape Town Sevens finishing in ninth with dominant victories against Uganda, Wales and Spain.
The rear-guard action from the Aussie 7s was clinical on day two after Australia was disappointed with their performance on day one of Cape Town with losses to New Zealand and USA hampering further progression into the tourney.
Australia finished in ninth position securing 21 points on the HSBC Sevens World Series ladder, heading into the next round of the World Series which is the HSBC Sydney 7s kicking off on the Australia Day Long weekend.
Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens Head Coach Andy Friend said: “I was happy with our improved performance. We are better than ninth spot in my opinion but what we need to be better at is that on day one in the bog games we are winning those. We are certainly not happy with ninth spot.
“Our attack has been good all year, the issue is more our defence and making sure that when we don’t have the ball to make sure we are as ruthless as we are in attack.
“Defence is what wins you tournaments and we haven’t been defending as well in January.
“We have a little bit of work to do before we break for Christmas. We have the first of our three biggest tournaments in Sydney coming up. We have a bit of work to do and we’ll make sure we do that before we break”.
Australia 47 defeated Uganda 12
A determined Australian side wasted no time in their day two campaign with Ben O’Donnell scoring off the kick off to mark the Aussie 7s intent on day two. Lewis Holland scored the men in gold’s second try as he brushed away with ease two Ugandan tackles to take a 14-0 lead. The Aussie 7s would score three more tries in the first half through Lewis Holland, John Porch and Ben O’Donnell as Australia took a strong 35-0 lead at the break.
Maurice Longbottom continued the damage at the start of the second half with his trade mark step slicing through the defence to score. Australia continued to put on a masterclass as the scoreboard advanced with only two late tries cracking the Aussie defence. Australia took the match 47-12 to advance to the Challenge Trophy Semi Finals.
Australia 42 defeated Wales 5
The Aussie 7s wrestled possession of the ball away from Wales in the opening exchanges and a quick thinking Australian backline punished the Welsh for the mistake with the opening try. Wales countered with attacking raids of their own but the defence of the Aussie 7s repelled the waves of red. Ben O’Donnell scored Australia’s second try to give the men in gold a 14-0 advantage. Brandon Quinn was sent to the sin bin for preventing a Welsh quick tap which allowed Wales to press home their man advantage and move the scoreboard to 14-5 at half time.
The second half saw the Aussie 7s push home their advantage with a well worked tries to Brandon Quinn and Tim Anstee giving Australia a 28-5 lead. Wales struggled against the Aussie 7s weight of pressure against them as the score line advanced to 42-5.
Australia 26 defeated Spain 7
A determined Spain outfit came out firing against Australia with the European defence holding out several waves of Aussie attack. Eventually though, Australia was able to find a wine through the line with a deft step from Tim Anstee putting the Eastwood forward over for a 7-0 lead. The Aussie 7s scored their second through Ben O’Donnell who ran a good line to score underneath the posts.
A brilliant individual effort from Ben O’Donnell saw the first try of the second half as O’Donnell sliced through the line to give the men in gold a 21-0 lead. Matthew Hood scored Australia fourth try after an excellent run from Maurice Longbottom lured in the covering Spanish defence to give Hood space to move the scoreboard to 26-0. A late consolation late to the Spanish was the only defensive lapse for the Aussie 7s as they took the match 26-7.
