Aussie men in costly sevens rugby loss

Lewis Holland has etched his name in Australia’s sevens record books but has still walked away disappointed after a painstaking 19-12 loss to Fiji at the New Zealand leg of the world series.

The result in Hamilton on Saturday means Australia will probably miss out on the men’s semi-finals under a cut-throat qualifying system being used this weekend and at next week’s event in Sydney.

With no quarter-finals on the program, only the pool winners will advance to the final four.

Australia’s hopes rest on beating winless Samoa in their last pool match on Sunday and hoping Argentina can topple the brilliant Fijians, who have won the past two Hamilton tournaments.

That bleak prognosis cast a cloud over what was an encouraging showing from Tim Walsh’s team, who hammered Argentina 38-7 in their opening game and were more than competitive against Fiji.

Holland became Australia’s most-prolific world series try-scorer when he crossed for his 110th five-pointer against Argentina, surpassing the record of another former captain, Ed Jenkins.

To achieve it in his 50th tournament had some significance for the 27-year-old Holland, whose debut came a decade ago in the New Zealand tournament in Wellington.

“Not many people get to those milestones. EJ (Jenkins) dedicated his career to sevens and I’m in the same boat,” he told AAP.

“It is special but we play a team sport. We came here with the right mindset and the right game plan so to not execute it in a couple of moments was disappointing.”

Before kickoff, Fiji presented the Australian team with a plaque to acknowledge the country’s bushfire plight.

The Olympic champions weren’t so convivial when Asaeli Ratuvuaka stripped the ball from Australian captain Nick Malouf and sprinted 40m to put them 5-0 up at halftime.

That try proved crucial as Fijian scores to Aminiasi Tuimaba and Apenisa Cakaubalau were cancelled out by Australian tries both involving Ben O’Donnell.

In his first tournament of the season, post-surgery, the classy O’Donnell set up Dylan Pietsch and scored himself on the stroke of fulltime.

Earlier, Maurice Longbottom was the standout performer against Argentina, scoring two of Australia’s six tries.

Holland took plenty from the Fijian performance in particular, regarding it as further progress ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

“To nullify them in defence was a positive,” he said.

“It was just on attack, we fell into their way of playing – loose carries, one-off running. You just don’t want to give them the ball so easily because their game is chaos.”

Joining Fiji with perfect records on day one were series co-leaders New Zealand and England, who upset South Africa 21-19, probably ending the Blitzboks’ tournament hopes.

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!