HSBC Sevens World Series
Australian women thump Ireland at Sydney 7s to confirm Olympic favouritism
ESPN Staff
February 6, 2016
Australia, NZ produce a thriller to cap day on

Australia confirmed their standing as Olympic gold medal favourites with an impressive 26-7 victory against Ireland in the opening fixture of their three-match series at the HSBC Sydney 7s.

The Pearls, the world No.1-ranked women's sevens team, opened the scoring within a minute and they led 19-0 at the break after touching down twice more.

© Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Emilee Cherry sliced through the Ireland line untouched to score Australia's fourth try and take the score to 26-0 while Evania Pelite displayed her emerging talent as one of the players to watch with solid runs in attack.

Australia coach Tim Walsh said his team had enjoyed playing in front of a full house at Allianz Stadium.

"In the past the girls have loved the big stadiums," he said. "They've always played well in front of them so I think they use the adrenalin to their advantage.

© Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

"I think it will be different again tomorrow when it really fills up towards the finals time in the second game, so really looking forward to seeing them handle that and perform in front of a big home crowd.

"They did pretty well. Some really good turnovers, some good defensive stuff and then got a bit loose towards the end. It's always hard when you've got a good lead and you're in front of a crowd to stay disciplined. So I was a little bit disappointed with that but we have two more games to improve on that."

Australia captain Shannon Parry said "it was really exciting to be playing in front of such a large home crowd and it was obviously great to get the win.

Australia and Ireland play two more exhibition matches against Ireland on Sunday.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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