Henry Paterson truly believes Australia can beat any team on the HSBC SVNS Series. Paterson made that clear mere moments after the Aussies’ 34-5 annihilation of Great Britain in the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens quarter-finals, but their next test is as tough as it gets.
Australia will take on Argentina for a spot in the big dance. Los Pumas Sevens currently sit in first place on the overall Men’s SVNS Series standings and their four matches so far at the all-new Kai Tak Stadium have been practically flawless.
Whoever wins that semi-final will take on the winner of Fiji and France to determine this season’s Hong Kong Sevens champion. Fiji booked their spot in the semi-finals with an extra-time win over Spain, while France got the job done against New Zealand.
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In the first quarter-final, Australia never looked like losing.
Paterson scored the opener in the first minute and it was one-way traffic from there. Paterson completed a hat-trick midway through the second-half, while James Turner, Henry Hutchison and Maurice Longbottom also got in on the try-scoring action.
James Pavey scored Great Britain’s sole score in the 16th minute.
“We’re a really tight group so we enjoy each other’s company which is probably the precursor to playing good footy,” Paterson told reporters.
“We’ve just been focused on the process really. Yeah, you want to win footy games but we just want to be playing better game on game.
“We weren’t really happy with how we performed game one and had a few things to fix and luckily we’ve just been building and being able to not only identify what needs to be fixed but go out there and execute it.”
Australia’s tough 21-12 loss to arch-rivals New Zealand to kick their campaign off in Hong Kong China seems like a long time ago now. Coach Liam Barry’s team “went the first five minutes without touching the ball” and have since learnt their lessons.
After a scintillating 26-7 win over South Africa in the final match on day one, Australia continued to show signs of improved with a 16-point triumph over Uruguay. But their performance against GB was by far their best of the tournament – and maybe the season.
“We have the confidence in the belief that we can beat anyone,” Paterson explained.
“I think that’s what we’re trying to drill into these young boys that when we are playing our best footy, we are world-class and we’re a top two, top four team – we should be playing in those last games on Sunday.
“There’s five guys in this team that won in 2022 so there’ been a real leadership focus on the five of those boys, the seven that won the World Series in 2022 is like, ‘Boys, we know we can do this. We’re playing the footy that we can go deep.’
“It’s bringing the rest of the crew along with us.”
Australia will have to be at their best in their semi-final when they take on a red-hot Argentina side who booked their spot in the final four with a 22-14 win over a resurgent Ireland side who continue to battle and give it their all on the Series.
Marcos Moneta, Luciano Gonzalez and Matia Osadczuk all scored a try each before the Irish hit back through Huge Lenno. That effort was cancelled out by Agustin Fraga with one minute left to play, although Ireland had one more try in them with Josh Kenny scoring.
Los Pumas Sevens had beaten Ireland 35-7 in their opening pool match of the prestigious event, and backed that up with a 47-point demolition of the USA and a shockingly one-sided 35-7 victory against Fiji earlier on Saturday.
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On the other side of the draw, Fiji shot out of the blocks against a Spanish side who has made a habit of qualifying for the semi-finals this season. Filipe Sauturaga and Sevuloni Mocenacagi scored a try each as the fan favourites took a 14-nil during the opening term.
Spain had the last say before the break, though, with Juan Ramos slamming the ball down in the final play of the half. Ramos also stepped up and nailed the extras to make it a seven-point ball game going into the determining seven minutes that remained.
It was a nervy start to the second half but the Fijians quickly regained control as George Bose and Iowane Teba ran in decisive tries. It seemed that Spain were down and out, with time not on their side and the Fijians leading by a decent margin.
Angel Bozal and Jeremy Trevithick ran in late tries to help make it a seven-point game with time practically up on the clock. In the final play of the game, Spain set up an attacking scrum and it eventually led to those much-needed points.
Alejandro Laforga crossed under the sticks. The try was converted.
Off to golden point.
It didn’t take long for Fiji to secure the win with Teba nailing a long-range penalty goal which, in sevens, is a drop kick. Teba snuck the ball inside the left upright to book Fiji’s spot in the Hong Kong Sevens semi-finals.
Fiji will take on France for a spot in the final, with the All Blacks Sevens falling 21-14 to France in the fourth and final men’s quarter-final. The New Zealanders are the two-time defending champions, but unlike their countrywoman, are no longer on track for a three-peat.
Playmaker Ngarohi McGarvey-Black and Dylan Collier crossed for first-half tries, while a last-gasp effort from Gregoire Arfeuil saw the French trail 14-7 at the interval.
More drama followed with Arfeuil scoring just 20 seconds into the second-half. With the try converted, almost suddenly, the two teams were locked at 14-all on the scoreboard.
France then took the lead in the 11th minute as Joe Quere Karaba dove through a tackle attempt from Cody Vai on the try line. New Zealand had plenty of ball inside the final three minutes but some costly errors ultimately cost the men in black.
