Australia rugby team was ranked sixth in the HSBC Sevens World Series ranking in Tokyo. They were placed in the Pool B along with New Zealand, United States and Hong Kong.
Even though the team was better ranked than two other opponents, Coach O’Connor was not ready to underestimate any of the teams.
In the Hong Kong series, USA had played very well only to be defeated by Kenya. Hong Kong played well as well and New Zealand was the champions. Australia started out well against Hong Kong but in lost their focus in the match against England.
Australia rugby team had a good start to the season but they were hampered by injuries. They started the series on a winning streak with the Day 1 match against France and a Day 2 win against Scotland. However Day 2 saw them defeated in the ands of Fiji and they finished second in the Pool matches.
The team had recuperated from their injuries right in time for the Tokyo series, and for the first time in the year they play with an unchanged side, which is going to do a lot to boost the team spirit because the injuries had forced O’Connor to play 22 players until now. The Tokyo series helped the team form a coercive side. This was very helpful as they had a strong line up of teams on their pool games with Hong Kong, USA and New Zealand, whom they had to defeat to advance further.
The Australia rugby team defeated Samoan in the Tokyo Seven series and won their sixth HSBC Sevens World Series title. This was their first series win since 2010, when they had defeated South Africa in London. With this win, Australia rugby team has silenced their critics and has overcome the ghost of past injuries that has haunted them the whole year.