'They were the better team': Aussie 7s star reflects on second consecutive loss

The Australian Men’s Sevens team looked like one of the teams to beat after the opening day of this season’s Sydney Sevens at Allianz Stadium.

After starting their campaign on home soil with a tense 12-7 win over rivals Great Britain, the hosts appeared to improve with every match they played in Pool A.

Their final pool performance captured the imagination of the home crowd, as they outclassed Hamilton Sevens champions Argentina with a 19-point win.

The reigning World Series champions were in red-hot form, and Australian rugby fans would’ve dared to dream big ahead of their crunch clash with France in the Cup quarterfinals.

But that’s when disaster struck.

It all fell apart; it’s Sevens, it can all change in a second.

France opened the scoring through Theo Forner, and while the men in gold scored the next two, the Frenchman added another try to his tally – with the conversion levelling the scores.

But, as the siren sounded, the match was ultimately decided by a Thomas Carol penalty goal.

Heartbreak for the hosts who had fallen short of their championship goal, while the French had mirrored the result of their women’s team.

Going into Day Three, Australia had a chance to bounce back against Samoa. But also immediately, it seemed like they weren’t up to the task.

Samoa scored four tries to Australia’s one, as they secured their place in the fifth place final with a 24-10 win.

Australian Sevens star Henry Paterson walked down the North-West tunnel drenched in sweat, having left everything out there on the field.

The try-scorer was quiet; seemingly in a state of shock, as he reflected on his sides second loss in as many games.

“Just wasn’t our day today, full credit to Samoa. They got the better of us, they were the better team,” Paterson told reporters.

“We missed a few areas in our execution, can’t fault the boys’ effort but Samoa were the better team.

“Every single minute of this tournament, up until the end of that France game, our focus was to win the thing. We weren’t here to compete, we’re here to win it,” he added.

“We were building towards playing the footy that can get us there.

“Knowing that we had an opportunity to win the whole thing… that’d be tough, tough to rewatch (the France quarterfinal).”

It’s a tough blow for the men in gold as well, as they’re made to settle for an equal seventh at their end of their home tournament.

Potentially, they could potentially sit around 20 points behind New Zealand on the overall standings.

As Paterson said, every point counts.

“I think that’s just the nature of Sevens, the best teams take the sort of stuff in their stride.

“If it’s a semi-final or if you’re playing off for fifth, every point counts this year so the best teams need to bounce back in the morning.

“That’s what we should have done and we weren’t able to do it today.”