John Porch and his Aussie men’s sevens side endured mixed extra-time fortunes on the final day of the USA Sevens in Las Vegas.
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After scoring in sudden-death extra-time to defeat Kenya 26-21 in their plate semi-final, the Aussies were pipped by New Zealand in similar circumstances in the play-off for fifth and sixth.
A length of the field try deep into extra-time to Sione Molia broke the 12-all deadlock as the Kiwis claimed a 17-12 victory in what was a pulsating encounter, with the Aussies scoring a last gasp try through Lewis Holland to level the scores and send the game into extra-time.
Porch crossed for four tries over the three-days including the Aussies first two tries in their 29-17 quarter-final loss to South Africa. He also bagged five pointers against Samoa and Kenya.
While the final result was disappointing, Australian head coach Andy Friend was impressed with the fight his side showed against the Kiwis.
“The last three times we have played New Zealand have come right down to the wire,” Friend said.
“I thought the guys did really well to get the game to extra time. They took their last chance and that’s how tight the game of sevens is at the moment.”
Australia sits in fourth place on the HSBC Sevens World Series ladder on 72 points trailing Fiji (79), New Zealand (82) and South Africa (92).
They now head to Vancouver for round six where they have been placed in Pool A alongside Las Vegas winners USA, Uruguay and hosts Canada.