Buoyed by their great year, recent Sevens Championship title in Madrid, and the strong form of the Aussie men in Paris, it is time to get down to business. 

Australia play their opening match against South Africa at midnight on Sunday AEST before their second match of the day against Great Britain at 330am Monday morning AEST.

The clash against Team GB will be particularly interesting as the Brits beat the Aussies in the Perth World Series event pool stages in late January.

Their final pool match is on Monday when they play Ireland, who beat Australia in the final of the Perth tournament.

The Australian players and coaching staff will be looking to fire from the outset and not take any opponent for granted. 

Captain Charlotte Caslick and Sharni Smale are three-time Olympians. They know the elation of winning an Olympic title from Rio 2016 and the pain of getting bundled out in the quarter-finals and eventually finishing fifth in Tokyo 2020.

There is plenty of exciting talent, and the team is a close-knit unit, led by coach Tim Walsh, who was at the helm in Rio.

Only the top two teams in each pool are guaranteed a spot in the quarter-finals, and the Australians want to finish top of the pool to give themselves the best chance of a favourable quarter-final draw.

Andrew Reid