The Australian Men’s Sevens team have finished in eighth position this morning after being defeated by France 12-10.
Australia went out seeking redemption after the French side beat Australia 31-14 in day one of the tournament.
The Australian side looked strong at the start of the game, after an intercept from Tom Cusack.
Queenslander Con Foley and Jesse Parahi set up Australia’s first try of the match with Henry Hutchinson crossing over line.
After a few errors which included a disallowed try to Ed Jenkins for a double movement and lost ball by Cusack, France took their chance and ran 80 metres to outpace the Australian defence to score in the corner.
In the second half, France came out strong and broke the line to score early.
Australia fought back with Foley making a break and passing to Jenkins.
The French defence was too good and stopping him in his tracks.
Jenkins then turned over the ball and scored to close the margin to 12-10.
Queenslander James Stannard missed the conversion and the final score 12-10 to leave them in eighth place.
After losing 22-5 to South Africa in the quarter finals, Australia looked as if they would be playing off for fifth at half time in their game against Argentina, when leading 21-5.
However the Argentine side fought back hard in the second half leaving Australia try-less and creating one of Sevens most memorable comebacks securing the win 26-21.
History was made with Fiji not only becoming the first Olympic men’s gold medalists for Rugby Sevens but also winning the country their first ever Olympic medal from any sport.
The Fijian side took on Great Britain in the gold medal match and secured an impressive 43-7 victory, doing not just their sport but country of fewer than a million very proud.
Below are the final standings in both the women’s and men’s Olympic Rugby Sevens tournament for Rio:
Men’s Tournament
Gold: Fiji
Silver: Great Britian
Bronze: South Africa
4th: Japan
5th: New Zealand
6th: Argentina
7th: France
8th: Australia
9th: United States
10th: Spain
11th: Brazil
12th: Kenya
Women’s Tournament
Gold: Australia
Silver: New Zealand
Bronze: Canada
4th: Great Britain
5th: United States
6th: France
7th: Spain
8th: Fiji
9th: Brazil
10th: Japan
11th: Kenya
12th: Columbia
