Australia’s men have survived an early scare to beat Canada 27-5 and remain undefeated on day two of the Sydney sevens rugby tournament.

The win followed Friday’s brave 26-19 defeat of the USA and puts the hosts on track for a quarter-final appearance on Sunday.

Canada scored first when the ball spilled free from a tackle and, deemed to have gone backwards, was soccered ahead fortuitously for a Justin Douglas try.

But Australia controlled proceedings from then on, playmaker Lewis Holland scoring twice to win back the lead.

Australia resisted Canada for more than three minutes after the halftime hooter, the hosts conceding two penalties as Canada probed the line but couldn’t penetrate.

After the break, Tim Anstee broke the line and put a huge right-foot step on the Canadians’ last line of defence to open up a 17-5 buffer with three minutes to play.

“I got the ball in my hands and found myself through the line,” Anstee recalled of his breakaway effort.

“I’m not sort of renowned for my stepping, but I got a bit of a right-foot step on me and I was through, but didn’t see the guy behind me so had to weave in and I was lucky to get there in the end.”

John Porch benefited from some excellent footwork from Maurice Longbottom as the Australians took ownership of the game, before veteran James Stannard’s try iced the victory.

“We seem to be using him well off the bench; he’s really nippy out there, uses his feet well and, when the defence is tiring, he comes out there and adds that bit of spark for us,” Anstee said of newcomer Longbottom.

Australia next play Scotland on Saturday night, with a win guaranteeing them top spot in the pool.

Scotland flogged Canada on Friday night 52-5 but lost to USA on Saturday 26-12.

Providing USA beat Canada, a heavy Australian loss could drop them to third on for-and-against to miss a finals spot.