News - AU Rugby
Australia downed by South Africa for third place at Hong Kong Sevens
ESPN Staff
April 10, 2016
© Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

Early mistakes from Australia have proved costly in their third place final with South Africa, going down 14-12 at the Hong Kong 7s.

Given several chances after the fulltime siren to steal the win, the Aussies were unable to breach the strong Blitzbokke defence, and with a final roll of the dice opted for a last ditch penalty shot from James Stannard, which fell away to the side.

The Blitzbokke were on the board early, after several Aussie mistakes saw the Blitzbokke slice through the defence and use their great ball handling to send Cecil Afrika over for the opening try of the match.

The Aussies were stung again in the same passage of play, with Stannard sent from the field for a high tackle.

The Blitzbokke were over again quickly with another Aussie mistake ending with Siviwe Soyizwapi sprinting down the sideline to score their second try and lead 14-0 after just 5 minutes.

Australia managed to hit back just before the break, with Sam Myers going over the line to pull the margin back to just seven-points and send the side into the half-time break trailing 14-7.

The Aussies were first to add points after the break with Boyd Killingworth crashing over in the corner, bringing the Aussies just two-points behind. But poor ball security again cost the Aussies, with the side squandering their possession and ending their series in fourth place.

© ESPN Staff

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