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Australia men qualify for Olympic quarters after two wins on day one
By Finn Morton
Australia have qualified for the Paris Olympics quarter-finals after overcoming an unfortunate start against Samoa to win 21-14, and later beating Kenya 21-7 on a historic day at the world-famous Stade de France.
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If the opening day of the event at the Games is anything to go by, this will be the biggest tournament in rugby sevens’ illustrious history. What appeared to be a full house at the 80,000-seat stadium watched as Australia and Samoa got things underway.
The men’s sevens team were the first Australian team to represent the nation at the Games and they appeared to feel the pressure and nerves that come with that responsibility. With the Aussies looking to mount an attack, a wayward pass led to points in Samoa’s favour.
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Playmaker Dietrich Roache threw an intercept which saw Samoa score under the posts and convert the try to take a seven-nil lead. But Australia had looked threatening up until that point and backed their key players to stand up.
Three-time Olympian Henry Hutchison combined with Matt Gonzalez to score just before the half-time break after slicing through a couple of Samoan defenders. That effort saw the two teams go into the break level but the Aussies had the momentum.
Nathan Lawson ran down the left wing with just under four minutes left to play in the second half to score the go-ahead points, and that man ‘Hutch’ was in thick of it later on with what ended up being the match-winning score.
Samoa’s Faafoi Falaniko scored after the siren but time and the scoreboard was not on their side. Australia had done enough to secure what was a confidence-building win to open their account at the Saint-Denis venue.
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“The first game’s always the most nervous, but I thought we settled in pretty nicely into that game. It was a bit frantic at the start,” Henry Hutchison said in a statement.
“Samoa came out hot and that was a really tough game, but we got better and better. Hopefully, we can build into the next game with the backend of our performance.”
With a spot in the quarter-finals ultimately on the line in their second pool match against Kenya, Australia shot out of the blocks with a point to prove. They’ve historically gotten off to a bit of a slow start at the Olympics but this was anything but.
Dietrich Roache kicked off the match and Australia soon retained possession. It was a blink and you’ll miss it type of moment from there, with James Turner racing away to score behind the posts just 25 seconds into the contest.
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Kenya, who have recently been promoted to the SVNS Series after winning a playoff in Madrid last month, hit back with a try of their own soon after to level the scores at seven-all.
But the Aussies would regain the lead quite quickly.
Nathan Lawson scored his second try of the Games with a stunning team effort with about one minute left to play. With Roache kicking the ball ahead, Lawson ran onto the ball with relative ease to give the men in gold and green the lead.
There was only one try scored in the second term and it was ACT Brumbies flyer and Wallaby-in-waiting Corey Toole who raced down the right wing. Wearing bright pink boots, the No. 3 scored the try which ended up sending them through to the next stage.
“Naturally there are a bit of nerves there when you’re the first Australian side playing and you want to get off to a good start,” coach John Manenti explained.
“Previous Olympics we haven’t had a good first day so we’ve put ourselves in a good position and go in tomorrow against Argentina to have a good shot at them.”
Australia will take on Argentina in their final pool match. Argentina won the SVNS Series League title for the first time earlier this year in Singapore and came agonisingly close to claiming the overall crown at the Grand Final in Madrid.
Earlier in the season, these teams went head-to-head in two Cup Finals, including a one-sided decider at Australia’s home event in Perth. Argentina won that one and also got the job done one month earlier in the Cape Town big dance.
