Friend at peace after Aussies fall short

Sat, Apr 14, 2018, 11:40 AM
Sam Phillips
by Sam Phillips
The Aussie Men's sevens side have put on a gutsy display and led at points during the match but ultimately fell short against England on day one of the Commonwealth Games. Hear from their coach Andy Friend after the day's play.

His side were left devastated after falling out of medal contention but Australian Men's Sevens coach Andy Friend is at peace.

Australia's loss to England saw them finish second in Pool B, eliminating them from a possible podium finish in the process.

It was a result which sucked the life out of Robina Stadium and while Friend's troops were visibly shattered, he cut a figure at peace with the result post match.

"That means a hell of a lot to them, for a lot of reasons," Friend said post match.

"We wanted to win that one and go on to win two more.Jesse Parahi cut a devastated figure after Australia lost to England. Photo: RUGBY.com.au/Stuart Walmsley"But sometimes in life, the things you wish for don't happen.

"As long as you give everything and I do believe out there today - we saw the energy and they gave everything they had - today just wasn't our day.

"If we had gone out there and we laid down, I would feel really empty, because that's not what this team is about.

"But it's a game of Sevens and we know that a game of Sevens at this level and on the World Series - it can go either way.

"You want to win and you want it to be a nice fairytale but fairytales don't come true, quite often."

Friend's assessment of the match couldn't have been more accurate.

Two moments all but determined the result of the match.Ben O'Donnell and the Aussies fell agonisingly short against England. Photo: RUGBY.com.au/Stuart WalmsleyThe first of those moments came on the brink of half time, when Australia led 12-5 and had the ball in their possession deep in the England half, with a one man advantage to boot.

While the smart play would have been to retain possession, Charlie Taylor put a desperate grubber to boot, Phil Burgess cleaning the ball up, beating two tackles and running 70 metres to score.

At worst, Australia should have taken a 12-5 lead into the sheds but England levelled things up at 12-all instead.

A similarly critical moment came as Australia trailed 19-17 with two minutes to play, Maurice Longbottom missing the tackle which put England through having set one up at the other end moments earlier.

"The game of Sevens is moments," Friend said.

"They were a bit more clinical than we were in the key moments.Australia will play for fifth place tomorrow. Photo: RUGBY.com.au/Stuart Walmsley"That's something that as a group, we have to live with.

"As this group develops and goes forward it's got to get better at that."

Despite the disappointment, Friend urged his side to respond as Australia fight for fifth place tomorrow.

"I am proud of the boys and the pain they're feeling at the moment shows how much it means to them," Friend said.

"Tomorrow is another chance for us and we just spoke about that then.

"We have a chance tomorrow, the sun comes up tomorrow and we have two more games tomorrow.

"We have a lot of support out there and the Aussie crowd is great to get behind us the way they have.

"If we play a good style of footy and have two wins, we can be really proud of them."

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