Australia has had a perfect day at the Hong Kong Sevens, fighting into the semi-finals where both teams will face New Zealand.
Across the four games on Saturday, the Men’s and Women’s sides didn’t concede a point as they booked their spot in the final four.
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Tim Walsh locked in a clash with old rivals New Zealand on Sunday (3:17pm AEST) after a tense 12-0 win over Japan in the quarter-finals.
Japan played far above their 11th ranking in the world series, frustrating the Aussies with their defence.
Tia Hinds’ try was the lone points of the first half as the greasy conditions limited attacking opportunities.
The Australians’ discipline issues continued when Sariah Paki was yellow-carded for a high shot, however, they defied the numbers to seal the win through Teagan Levi.
“We’ve been starting games slow so as a group we need to be a bit better at that,” Levi said after the win.
“They (Japan) wanted it more at the start but at half-time we came out firing and we wanted it more than them at the end.”
Earlier in the day, doubles to Maddison Levi and Faith Nathan set up a 28-0 victory over South Africa.
They will be boosted by the return of Madison Ashby from suspension, whilst Bienne Terita will be given every chance to feature tomorrow after her ankle injury flared up.
As for the Men, they took down South Africa 15-0 as their pressure continued to frustrate the Blitzboks.
Similar to their win in Cape Town, John Manenti’s side smothered the South Africans, creating the opening try to Nathan Lawson when they won a turnover five metres out from the line.
Maurice Longbottom then scored in the second half before sealing the victory with a 40-metre penalty goal.
“A few things didn’t go to plan so we had to fight through but we just hung in there,” captain Nick Malouf said on the broadcast.
“We were able to have a couple of scores on the board and were able to manage that with the shot on goal late. I’m excited about tomorrow.”
Malouf was one of several try-scorers in their 35-0 win over Canada to finish the pool games, set up by a strong defensive performance by Michael Icely.
They will meet defending Hong Kong champions All Black Sevens (4:06 pm) after they defeated Fiji late in their quarter-final.
