Late tries sink Australia's Youth Olympic gold campaign as they claim silver

Tue, Nov 3, 2026, 9:04 PM
Nathan Williamson
by Nathan Williamson
Australia has claimed silver at the Youth Olympics in Dakar. Photo: AOC
Australia has claimed silver at the Youth Olympics in Dakar. Photo: AOC

Australia's dream of Youth Olympic gold has been denied after the siren twice as they claim silver in Dakar.

The Aussies went down 17-12 to Kenya in the Final, conceding after the bell and into extra time after leading on the siren.

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Darci Turinui, daughter of former Wallaby Morgan, opened the scoring inside the first 45 seconds before the Kenyans responded as both teams went into the break 5-all.

Grace Buchanan looked to have been the hero with two minutes to go; however, Josephine Keruo's try one minute into additional time sent the game into sudden death.

From there, the Kenyans struck through Mitchelle Chemtai, leaving Australia to settle for second.

It's Australia's first medal of the event, with captain Aimee Henry proud of the effort from the side in their first appearance at the Games since 2014

“It’s unreal. We came here for the gold, but silver tastes just as good. I’m really proud of the girls," she said.

"It’s been a ride of emotions going through untouched which made us pretty confident but at the end of the day, Kenya just put in a great performance and I can’t take that away from them. I’m really proud.”

The Aussies had defeated Kenya earlier in the day to top their pool, coming away with a 17-5 victory thanks to tries to Henry, Buchanan and Keira Callaghan.

This booked them into the semi-finals against Czechia, accounting for them 19-10.

Layne Prince, niece of NRL legend Scott, crossed for a double as Turinui also crossed to build a 14-0 lead that the Czech side wouldn't reel in.

Turinui looked to repeat the magic in the decider but was left energised by the group's spirit and support.

“It feels amazing. The girls are really supportive. Obviously, it’s not the result we wanted, but the fact that we could get together at the end to give each other a hug and that we needed to support each other was amazing,” Turinui said.

Madagascar claimed bronze with victory over Czechia, their first ever medal in Rugby.

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