The former Farrer flyer was one of the stars of the Aussies’ campaign, scoring a second half hat-trick in their final pool match against the USA to orchestrate a sensational fightback and save their title hopes.

Following a 19-all draw with the hosts and 50-17 win over Uruguay, the Aussies went into the game knowing they needed to either win or draw, but trailing 21-7 at half-time that seemed unlikely.

But when Porch received the tap back from the kick-off and scorched US speedster Perry Baker it triggered an avalanche of points, the Aussies scoring 24 unanswered points to snatch a 31-21 victory and move through to the Cup quarter-finals.

Australian head coach Andy Friend was full of praise for Porch.

“Johny Porch was incredible in that game,” he said.

Taking on South Africa in their quarter-final, the Aussies looked on target for the semi-finals when they jumped out to a 19-nil lead. But turnovers cruelled them as they were knocked out of Cup contention 24-19, the final and decisive try coming after the siren.

They then overcame a heavy injury toll and spirited comeback from Argentina to win their fifth-placed semi-final 28-24, before going down to England 31-14 in their fifth-place play-off.

Two early tries to the English saw them lead by 14 before Jesse Parahi pegged one back before the break.  However the English kept their momentum in the second half and a depleted 10-man Australian side were unable to find their groove.

"We’re disappointed with finishing sixth, we had our chances, had our big chance in the quarter-final and to let 19-points slip against South Africa, that’s pretty hard to take,” Friend said.

“I thought we fought back well in our next game but to lose that last one against England, that was tough as well.”

Australia remain in fourth place on the HSBC Sevens World Series ladder, closing the gap on New Zealand in third ahead of next month’s Hong Kong Sevens.