Australia’s hopes of a maiden gold medal for the Mens Sevens have been resolutely ended by a stunning Fiji second performance at the Stade de France.
Going into the sheds at halftime 7-7, the Olympic champions came out for the second half and put on a stunning display for the near 69,000 fans, capitalising on Australian mistakes off the kickoff and some pure Fijian magic to run out 31-7 winners.
Australia put on a dogged display in the first half, shutting down Fijian space effectively and brutally attacking the ruck, resulting in a try to Ben Dowling two minutes from halftime to open the scoring.
However, four dropped kick-offs, two missed tackles at critical moments, and phenomenal Fijian pressure saw the second half unravel spectacularly – a moment of capitulation the commentators referred to as simply ‘too much Fiji.’
It was a disappointing match after what had been a promising run of games for Australia, having not dropped a match in the pool stages and in the quarter-finals.
While the second half was a half to forget, a dream of a maiden Olympic medal for Australia’s Mens Sevens program is still alive, with a forthcoming bronze medal clash against South Africa.
The preceding semi-final saw a nervy clash between the Blitzboks and France, with mistakes aplenty in the opening half in greasy conditions at the Stade de France.
So nervous were both sides by the occasion, that they were both unable to trouble the scorers, going into half-time 0-0.
However, the Blitzboks quickly got on the board off the back of a controversial penalty against Antoine Dupont, but were unable to convert.
However, from that moment, the French didn’t look back.
Buoyed by the arrival of Dupont, the hosts ran in three tries to send the crowd into absolute euphoria – eventually going on to win 19-5.
It has an early shining moment for the home fans in this Olympics, with Antoine Dupont now set to be guaranteed a medal at his home Olympics, and potentially, a fairytale finish to the season.
However, like Australia before them, they will have to come up against a rampant Fijian side in the grand final – one who has still not lost a match at the Olympics and is going for three gold medals in a row in the Men’s Sevens.
However, if they are to do it, they’ll have to do at it one of the most hostile environments in all of international rugby.
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