Australia has secured its second win on Day One at the Langford Sevens in Canada with a 21-0 defeat of Ireland.
The Aussies were again pushed in the first half but came out firing after the break to put their stamp on the game.
Coach Tim Walsh sent out a young line-up to get things underway with Alicia Quirk, Charlotte Caslick and first-time captain Chloe Dalton being the voices of experience on the field.
The Irish were impressive in defence making Australia work hard for possession and not allowing the Olympic champions any breaks.
With no score at half-time the second half began with great anticipation as Australia showed it was time to get down to business, bringing Shannon Parry, Sharni Williams and Emilee Cherry off the bench.
Cherry was the first to get the scoreboard ticking over, followed by Dalton and then Caslick with Dalton impressively converting all three tries.
With some great work at the breakdown, the Aussies secured the turnover more than once.
By the final siren Australia looked to have had a convincing win, but Ireland had certainly not made it easy.
“The pressure has been on us since last year… It’s always there.”
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) May 27, 2017
Tim Walsh on the expectation sitting on @Aussie7s’ shoulders #Canada7s pic.twitter.com/ksUkoz0w4v
The two wins, with one match to play, means Australia has qualified for the Cup quarter finals and will now be looking to make a clean sweep of the day.
Australia will play Fiji in its final Pool C game at 10.04am AEST.
In a surprise turnaround, Fijiana has suffered two losses at the hands of Ireland and Spain and will be desperately wanting to put a win on the board against its Oceania rivals.
All matches are being streamed LIVE on WorldRugby.org
Staples stars as Aussies get opening win in Langford
The Australian Women’s Sevens team has started its Langford campaign with a solid win over Spain 26-0.
Young debutante Cassie Staples has grabbed her international sevens opportunity with both hands scoring the opening try in Australia’s first Pool game in Canada.
It was the only score for the first half in a game where Australia took time to find its rhythm early, allowing Spain to have a good amount of the possession.
The second half proved a different story as the Aussies took their 7-0 lead and added three more tries including another for Staples giving her a double on debut.
Emilee Cherry and Charlotte Caslick were the other scorers and once they had the ball and some space, made running to the line look easy.
In the end, it was a good result for the Aussies who have gone to Canada with four youngsters in the squad who have five caps or less.
With the first game done, they will go away and work on some elements of their game as the opposition will get tougher in the remaining two games on day one.
Australia will play Ireland in its second Pool C game at 7.20am AEST.
