Australia victorious in Sydney

Australia beat South Africa 29-0 in the Cup final to take the HSBC Sydney Sevens title.

The victory secured a clean sweep for the host nation after Australia’s women beat New Zealand in their Cup final earlier on in the day.

It marked the men’s first Cup win since Japan in 2012 and Andy Friend’s side put on a clinical display on day three in front of an enraptured home crowd at the Allianz Stadium. 

A brace from Ben O’Donnell combined with scores from Lewis Holland, James Stannard and John Porch. 

Lachlan Anderson, an emerging talent within the team, was voted HSBC Player of the Final and was naturally delighted with the result after the full time whistle. 

“It is still hard to take it in and it is pretty special, but we have been talking about this for a long time," he said.  “We started the work last July and drew a line in the sand as we hadn’t won for a while. We put the pieces in place and its great that we got the reward this weekend

South Africa now lead the overall HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2018 standings and Australia move up to third with seven stops remaining. The teams move swiftly on and will reconvene in Hamilton on 3-4 February. 

Argentina were knocked out in the Cup semi-final by the eventual winners yet finished strongly in third after beating the USA 31-10 in the Bronze Final. 

France won the Challenge Trophy Final. After a victories over Spain and Russia, they beat Wales 29-12 in their final.

CUP SEMI-FINALS

USA 7-35 South Africa

A dominant performance from the series leaders South Africa booked their place in the Cup Final. 

After a textbook switch back from Justin Geduld, Seabelo Senatla opened the scoring with his seventh of the weekend, and it went from there. 

A yellow card period, with Geduld off the park or a deliberate knock, was capitalised on by the USA as they touched down through Perry Baker. That levelled proceedings at 7-7 with less than 60 seconds to go before half-time. 

With the time in red Rosko Specman raced towards the line and Folau Niua was handed a yellow of his own after a high tackle on the speedster.

South Africa executed their set play with ease and a combination of Kyle Brown and Timothy Agaba put them 14-7 up at the break

Werner Kok added to the Blitzboks' try-scoring tally and then their tempo went up a notch with Senatla finishing the job for a 35-7 victory. 

Australia 28-0 Argentina

After the women’s victory in their Cup Final Australia’s men approached their Cup semi-final in focused mood. 

Lewis Holland opened the hosts’ account in the first minute and John Porch almost added a second had it not been for the covering work of the experienced Gaston Revol.

On the brink of half-time James Stannard released Ben O'Donnell for their second try and with the conversion the hosts went 14-0 up at the break. 

It was to be a match of braces as Holland's second extended their lead further before O'Donnell capped the Cup semi-final performance with his second. All four of their tries were converted and a momentum building clean sheet set them up for their Cup final meeting with South Africa.