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Australia men qualify for Olympic quarters after two wins on day one

Dietrich Roache of Team Australia during the Men's Rugby Sevens Pool B match between Team Australia and Team Kenya at the Stade de France during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. (Photo By David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

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.

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    Comments on RugbyPass

    J
    JW 58 minutes ago
    Andy Goode: Aussie comments didn't cover them in glory

    Yes I was happy with the refs ruling of arrival (and that the tackled player wasn’t obligated to release the ball immediately) but if you see the wide angle you can note how Morgan dives to get there in time.


    I don’t mind your (or the refs) view, but what Morgan said is accurate. Both Mils and Beaver agreed on the breakdown, and you will also get the same view from Aotearoa Rugby Pod guys for a pretty unanimous NZ view.

    Sometimes when both players are low its a rugby collision and this is one of those times.

    Not recently. In the SR finals and AB v Arg series weve seen players clearly bent 90 at the waist still be penalised, only when the attacker does something the ref sees immediate mitigation and rules a rugby incident. Tizzano didn’t offer that he was always in the position Morgan aimed to collect him in.


    Happy to not throw the rule book at these situations but the precent is that they are in these situations.

    many tries out wide the player is allowed to be tackled while diving

    They are diving for the line, not to avoid being tackled.

    “In principle, in a try scoring situation, if the action is deemed to be a dive forward for a try, then it should be permitted. If a player is deemed to have left the ground to avoid a tackle; or to jump, or hurdle a potential tackler, then this is dangerous play and should be sanctioned accordingly.”

    You can read Nicks article for an updated discourse on this though.

    30 Go to comments
    J
    JW 1 hour ago
    New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

    But he was wrong, he had to take back what he said. But maybe this only happened because he came out and was honest with his initial plans?


    He’s simply in a position where he should be far more professional.


    I don’t really follow much media, especially SM, but again, I’ve not seen anyone complaining. Plenty of ridicule and pointing out things like it being disrespectful to the game, but as far as the English language goes, that’s not complaining. Nick Bishop for instance hasn’t been complaining, he’s simply saying Galthie made a bad decision for France’s prospects (which when the common reply is ‘thats how it is’).


    Complaining would be views expressing that the FFR should have put the tour back a week so that all T14 finalists could attend. Complaining would be saying they’ve been robbed of seeing the worlds best stars. Complaining would be saying players can simply take extra weeks off from T14. I’ve only seen advice and suggestions that these are things France need to look-at-for-the-future.


    Basically I tried to communicate with French fans because they don’t understand what’s being communicated. ALL reactions I have seen shared here by French supports have all seemed way over the top compared what I’ve seen expressed about this tour.

    the players are expected to play in too many matches, for too many minutes, and need more rest and recovery time.

    This is the message I have been sharing. So something needs to happen, whether thats France pull out of more Internationals or rest players from more domestic games, who knows, but I also don’t think what they have now is working. It’s obviously much better than 3-4 years ago, but they appear to want to work even harder at it like you say. Personally I’ve only seen LNR be reasonable, I hear much less of their other internationals being denied/influenced not to play, so I imagine that they will give even further (as I can’t really see France pulling out the other international windows as well).

    147 Go to comments
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