Australia have had a remarkable Oceania Sevens tournament, with the men’s team securing their ticket to Tokyo 2020 by winning the Olympic Qualification Tournament and both the men’s and women’s team winning overall Oceania Championship gold.
After the women's team had already secured their Tokyo berth in June, the Oceania Sevens was the last shot for the men to also claim their spot after missing out on the top four automatic qualifying spots in the Sevens World Series.
Anything less than a victory on Saturday would have pushed them into a global repechage just a month out from the Olympics.
After the women's team had already secured their Tokyo berth in June, the Oceania Sevens was one of two remaining chances for the men to also claim their spot after missing out on the top four automatic qualifying spots in the Sevens World Series.
Anything less than a victory in the Olympic Qualifier on Saturday would have pushed them into a global repechage just a month out from the Olympics.
It was an incredible charge-down from captain Lewis Holland that stole the win for the Aussies, who trailed 12-0 at the half-time break, and he admitted there was an overwhelming sense of relief after the result was secured.
“It's a bit of a relief I guess,” he said after the qualifier final.
“The last three months have been building towards this moment because we didn't get there through the World Series, that was our first goal and this was our second hurdle we had to get over if we didn't overcome the first one.
“To get that game out of the way is a really big relief.”
Coach Tim Walsh said the clarity of knowing they had secured their Olympic spot certainly made the path for the next 10 months much simpler.
“It's very difficult to peak in June and peak again in July for the Olympics... I can throw that other play away,” he said.
“This makes planning a little easier and gives us a lot more freedom to make sure we are fully prepped for the Olympics and not doubling up our peak performance.”
Them men followed their Tokyo qualification with victory over reigning Olympic champions Fiji 22-7 to claim the Oceania title.
The Australian women's team went undefeated to reclaim the Oceania title, beating Fji in the final.
The Aussie women trailed 12-0 in their championship final against Fijiana and stormed home with a 24-0 second half to claim the gold medal.
The victory came after two wins over New Zealand in as many days, a huge boost of confidence for the young team.
Having already sewn up their own Tokyo berth, Aussie women’s coach John Manenti named a number of new faces in his squad for the tournament, looking for them to prove themselves.
A group that included Uni 7s standouts Georgia Hannaway and Rachel Crothers was set for a major litmus test in Fiji, taking on New Zealand, Canada and Japan.
Manenti said the gold medal was ultimately a bonus for his young side.
“I suppose we obviously always want a win when we play but this was more about giving exposure and minutes to some of our younger girls and probably the biggest thing we got out of it was testing them against good quality teams,” he said.
“We obviously played New Zealand twice and a good Canadian team and a good Japanese team, the World Series Japanese team, so those three games were good and then tonight we had to show a bit of character coming home against the Fijians - down 12-0, in front of their home crowd and a few things going against us - so I think we learned a lot and they'll be better for the tournament now."
Hannaway was among one of the best for Australia in the tournament, along with youngsters Faith Nathan and Madison Ashby.
Manenti said their performances over the three-day competition showed that there was a level of players below the national squad more than capable of taking the step up to World Series rugby.
