RUGBY SEVENS: It wasn’t quite the Olympic debut the team was after, but the Australian men’s rugby sevens team can be proud of the fight they put up, finishing eighth at Rio.

In a competition full of star teams including the three eventual Olympic medallists Fiji (gold), Great Britain (silver) and South Africa (bronze), Australia faced a tough challenge to make the medal matches and a loss to South Africa in the quarter-finals on Thursday relegated them to the 5-8 playoffs.

With a fifth place finish in sight, the Ed Jenkins-led side sadly couldn’t hold off a strong finishing Argentinian team going down 26-21 in their first match.

They then went down 12-10 to France.

“We came into this day with two games after a disappointing result last night against South Africa,” Jenkins said.

“Against Argentina we had a nice lead and then they crawled their way back with then their late try broke a few of our hearts. France was a close battle right down to the wire, I couldn’t fault it.”

Jenkins said the quality of the tournament was high, with teams needing to have everything go their way to stay in the medal hunt.

“We had high expectations and were looking to do better, it was such a tight tournament.”

Jenkins said the side was also disrupted by playmaker Lewis Holland's injury, forced to withdraw from competition on the first day after suffering a minor hamstring tear. He was replaced by Tom Kingston.

“We definitely didn’t have a bit of luck with Lewis. It was exciting for him (Kingston), he initially thought he wasn’t going to even be named in the squad.”

While it might not be the result Jenkins and his 11 teammates were after, it was an historic moment for the sport and Australia, with rugby sevens making its Olympic debut in Rio.

“It’s been a big journey for the sevens boys. Five to six years ago they announced that rugby was in the Olympics and a few of us decided to give it a shot.”

Next on the cards for the team is to take to the stands to cheer on fellow Australians and then a nice well deserved break.

“Our sport’s over but all the boys want to support all the other Australian athletes, when you’re part of the wider team you’re part of a bigger picture.

“After that we’ll have a month-long break, the longest break in four years for most of us and then prepare for next season.”

Annie Kearney

olympics.com.au