Canada winless on Day 1 of Sydney Sevens, drops to consolation play

Andy Friend looked a measured man at halftime, knowing the job was not completely done, but somewhat satisfied his players had orchestrated their best seven minutes of the tournament.

Henry Hutchinson scored two first-half tries for Australia, but in a see-sawing game the New Zealand side grabbed a late win on Sunday evening.

Australia’s Sevens record against their trans-Tasman counterparts makes for poor reading, having only claimed the chocolates on eight occasions from 63 meetings including two draws.

In Wellington last weekend New Zealand clawed back victory over South Africa with the last play of the match, and again Sir Gordon Tiejtens’ team showed aplomb, patience and no little skill to win at the death at the Allianz Stadium, which hosted its first Sevens Series and earned rave reviews.

The Canadian men lost 27-12 to New Zealand, 26-12 to Australia and 26-17 to Portugal.

“I think what we were disappointed with is that we worked so hard and got so close but it wasn’t enough”.

England suffered a 17-12 extra-time quarter-final defeat against hosts Australia in the Sevens World Series.

New Zealand’s habit of clinching wins after full-time continued but Friend said Australia wasn’t lacking in belief because of it.

Australia patiently built pressure on South Africa with strong ball handling and eventually playmaker James Stannard cracked the Blitzboks for a second time, kicking the ball around the base of a ruck to regather and score in the corner taking the score to 12-0 just before half time.

The ensuing scrum handed NZ, who also drew their pool match with Australia thanks to a last-gasp try on Saturday night, the chance to steal the match.

It appears New Zealand’s sevens side has managed to sneak an eighth player onto the field during the heart-stopping final passage of play which saw them score a try after full-time to level the scores.

Australian Captain Ed Jenkins echoed the sentiment of the new Head Coach after letting New Zealand off the hook in the final Pool A clash.

Speedster Greg Jeloudev gave Australia the lead for the fourth time in the match with a converted score to take the score to 24-17 with two minutes to play.

“What we have to make sure is that those simple mistakes don’t happen in a big tournament”.

The Fijians, South Africa and New Zealand are all tied on 69 points after four rounds of the 10-stop championship, which this year is acting in part as preparation for rugby’s return to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August.