Aussie Mens Sevens go two from two on day one in Vegas

Sat, Feb 14, 2015, 1:00 AM
AAP
by AAP

The Qantas Australian Men's Sevens team has ended Day One at the USA Sevens on top of Pool D after winning both of their games in Las Vegas this afternoon.

Head Coach Geraint John's side beat Brazil (45-0) and France (31-14) with the final game of the group tomorrow morning against Scotland. A win will seal top spot in the pool and a Cup Quarter-Final berth against either New Zealand or Fiji.

Qantas Australian Men's Sevens captain Ed Jenkins, who crossed over twice on Day One for the 77th and 78th tries of his World Series career, said: "It was a positive day for us. The scoreline against Brazil looks good but the reality is that we didn't play to our potential. However, against France I thought we played a lot better, particularly defensively. It was a physical game, they were confident coming off a good tournament in Wellington last weekend, so we had to do our homework on them and attack them out wide."

On tomorrow's clash with Scotland, Jenkins added: "The Scots have been our bogey side in days gone by, but we have done quite well against them so far this season with a few good wins [in Gold Coast and Dubai]. We need to recover well tonight and build on those two performances today as if we are lucky enough to qualify then we have a very tough crossover Cup Quarter-Final game."

The Aussies kicked off their campaign in Vegas with a comfortable win against the only team to have qualified for the Olympics in Rio 2016 to date - Brazil. After a nervy start from the team currently fourth in the HSBC Sevens World Series, James Stannard broke clear on the right to set up Ed Jenkins to open the scoring. A quick-fire double from Con Foley put clear daylight between the two sides before Lewis Holland, Nick Malouf and Sam Myers (2) all scored in a much-improved second period to secure the win.

Australia met France in the last game of the day at the Sam Boyd Stadium, and it was the team in canary yellow and green that started the quicker - Pama Fou latching on to a ball from Cameron Clark to dot down on the left wing after two minutes. Ed Jenkins powered over to extend his side's advantage. Julien Candelon hit back for France before Clark combined with Fou once again for the latter to score right on the half-time siren. The French once again reduced the arrears inside the opening minute of the second period through Virimi Vakatawa only for Cameron Clark to score twice and confirm an impressive win against a re-born Sevens outfit.

Scotland will be Australia's final Pool D opponents tomorrow morning (Sunday) at 8.52am AEDT. Fans can catch all of the action from the Las Vegas Sevens LIVE on FOX SPORTS 2 from 6am (AEDT) on Sunday and Finals Day on Monday from 5am (AEDT).

Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens results in Las Vegas, USA, 14 February:

Australia 45-0 Brazil, Pool D

Australia 31-14 France, Pool D

Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens fixture in Las Vegas, USA, 15 February:

Australia v Scotland, Pool D, 8.52am AEDT

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