Oceania 7s, Day 1: Australia on top

Australia progressed through the Pool stages of competition undefeated - including an emphatic 19-7 win over World Champions New Zealand.

"I'm very happy with that" said Australian Coach Tim Walsh at the end of the day's play. "Four games in a day is tough - especially for a young and inexperienced squad which we've brought here - and I think it was good that we had two very tough games against Fiji and New Zealand at the beginning of the day which meant we had to be at our best right from the start".

Australian finished on top after the Pool stages following wins against Fiji (26-0), New Zealand (19-7), Papua New Guinea (48-0) and Samoa (40-5).

Australia will play Samoa in the first Semi Final on Day 2 tomorrow. New Zealand will take on a rapidly improving Fiji team in the second Semi Final.

New Zealand Coach Sean Horan was circumspect with his team's performance on Day 2. "Our focus right now is on building depth - we've brought just 5 of our World Cup team here this week. We see this tournament as a great opportunity to build the depth of our squad ahead of the Women's Sevens World Series and it's fantastic to be playing teams like Fiji and Samoa who are just so big and physical" he said at the end of the day's play. "So whilst it was disappointing to lose to Australia today, we have a great opportunity to grow here and that's what I'll be looking for tomorrow".

The young New Zealand team - featuring two 17 year olds - came back from being down 7-12 mid-way through the first half to grind out a hard fought 26-12 win over Fiji in the last match of the day and arguably one of the most entertaining games of the Pool stages. New Zealand captain Sarah Goss was superb for the World Champions in this match as was Michaela Blyde who scored two tries to ensure New Zealand finished Day 1 in second position.

Fiji coach Jim Wainiqolo was very pleased with his team's performance on day one and in particular the improvement that was made by the team as the day progressed. Like New Zealand and Australia, Fiji have brought a relatively inexperienced squad to Noosa - with just 5 members from their Rugby Sevens World Cup squad earlier this year.

"The girls showed a big improvement throughout the day and I was pleased with how they took the game to the World Champions in our final match" he said. "This experience is just so important for our girls - they don't need to be overawed by New Zealand and Australia because they can compete with them - but we need to play them more in tournaments like this for the girls to realise this".

The only disappointing feature of the day was how far Samoa and Papua New Guinea have slipped behind the rest. Only a year ago they were only a score or two behind Fiji, and certainly competitive with Australia and New Zealand. This year a clear gap has opened between those teams with access to the World Cup and Women's World Series and those without - in six games Samoa and Papua New Guinea could only managed a single try against the "big three", while conceding over 260 points.

In the end Samoa sneaked into the fourth semi-final place on account of a better points differential to Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea and Samoa fought out a thrilling 7-all draw earlier in the day – PNG left ruing a forward pass that cruelled them of a try on full time that would have seen them win the match and, ultimately, progress to the semi-finals. The semi-finals will commence at 11.32 local time tomorrow.

Day 1 Results