The Cape Town Sevens have been two differing tales for the Australian sides, with the women sweeping Pool B while the men have gone winless during the Pool stages.
The women will qualify for the semi-finals as a result, while the men head for a fifth-placed play-off against a similarly misfiring Dubai finalist, New Zealand.
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The Aussie Women hit the ground running after their Dubai second-place finish, beating France 41-0 thanks to a double to captain Isabella Nasser.
They would overcome a determined Canada in their second clash, 26-19, with Faith Nathan scoring a double to give the Aussies a lead they would not relinquish.
Madi Ashby continued her strong form since returning to the side, while Kahli Henwood backed up her recall from the Australia A side last week.
Maddison Levi would score a double in their final match over Japan, the 36-5 victory seeing Nathan, Henwood, Heidi Dennis and Ruby Nicholas all cross the chalk.
“We had a rough start this morning and weren’t happy with our performances out there,” Henwood added in a statement following the results.
“The scorelines look good but we’re a critical team on ourselves and the little errors we were making in games one and two we wanted to tidy up against Japan so it was good to put that in practice for day two tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, the men, who were missing five senior players, struggled to replicate their Dubai efforts, with a ruthless Argentina side blowing them off the park in their opening clash.
The side struggled with position and field position throughout the entire first day, with losses to Spain and France following.
Dietrich Roache provided some positives for the Aussies, continuing his strong returning form by scoring three tries in the last two matches, while Will Cartright also crossed the chalk against France.
The men will now head into a fifth-placed semi-final against fellow Dubai finalists New Zealand, who bowed out of contention after losses to hosts South Africa and Fiji and Pool A.
The women will face off in the semi-finals against the USA.
AUSTRALIA WOMEN
- Match 1: Australia 41 def France 0
- Match 2: Australia 26 def Canada 19
- Match 3: Australia 36 def Japan 5
- Semi-Final: Australia v USA (Sunday, 9:00 pm AEDT)
AUSTRALIA MEN
- Pool Match 1: Australia 0 def by Argentina 36
- Pool Match 2: Australia 17 def by Spain 19
- Pool Match 3: Australia 10 def by France 29
- Fifth-place play-off: Australia v New Zealand (Sunday, 7:44 pm AEDT)