Australia have come from behind to score a 26-17 win over Fiji and ensure a clean sweep of their pool at rugby’s Sydney Sevens at Allianz Stadium.

The Rio Olympic champions were rusty in their first-up 24-7 Pool B win over Brazil, emphatic in their 29-0 defeat of Ireland, but nearly came undone against Fiji, trailing 17-14 with four minutes remaining.

With 90 seconds remaining, Tiana Penitani and Evania Pelite combined for the decisive try, before star speedster Ellia Green broke from a ruck to score.

The Australian women, the reigning World Series champions, had already secured a place in Saturday’s quarter-finals with their opening two wins.

“Definitely a scratchy win against Fiji – we’ve got things to work on,” co-captain Shannon Parry said.

“Fiji’s a funny opposition, you know. They’re playing for everything there. They play very similar to the men’s offload game and it’s so hard to defend if you can’t make your tackles and you can’t get into the offload channel.

“We were probably a step off the pace there in that game. But I’m glad we came away with the win in the end.”

Parry conceded there were some nerves and high expectations for the Australians playing at home.

“That comes with the tag,” she said. “But I think the girls handled it well. We came away with three from three and that’s what we wanted to do – top our pool.”

In other notable results, New Zealand suffered a scare against France before sneaking home 14-12 to make it two wins from two matches, while Russia flexed their muscle by completing a clean sweep of their three Pool C games with a 31-5 thrashing of England.