Wales Sevens bounced back from the disappointment of Wellington last week to emerge winners of Pool B on Day One in Sydney. First up, Williams’s men edged France 14-12, thanks to tries from co-captain Sam Cross and Ethan Davies (who added the conversions).
Then came one of Wales’ most memorable performances in the recent past on the series: a 28-15 victory against Olympic champions Fiji, thanks to a hat-trick from Morgan Wiliams, plus a try from Owen Jenkins. The result meant Wales had broken a 14-match losing streak against the Fijians, stretching back to 2013.
A 7-7 draw against Samoa – with a lovely chip-and-chase score from the returning Luke Treharne, and in which which Samoa made a miracle tackle to hold newcomer Owen Lane up over the line at the death to prevent a winning score – saw Wales Sevens through to the Cup quarter-final on Day Two, where they succumbed 26-0 to the resurgent Australians.
“I was disappointed with the performance against Australia,” says head coach Gareth Williams.
“There were a number of factors that meant we were not the same team as yesterday. I question how we reacted to the heat, psychologically, and whether this flowed over to the inaccuracies witnessed.”
Whilst Williams questioned some of the decisions of the officials, he added: “This was definitely an opportunity missed and our inaccuracies also added up to give us too much to do. Australia were deserved winners and we wish them luck for the remainder of the tournament.”
Meeting USA in the fifth-place semi-final went the way of the Americans – including a brace of tries from Carlin Isles – but it was a brace from newcomer James Botham that will give Wales encouragement heading into the next round.
“This period is very short now with regards to preparation for Las Vegas,” Williams comments, “but it will be exciting after the small wins we had here in Sydney. I spoke before coming away about a challenge of consistency for us. This is still the theme moving forward, but to be sat here in this position is better than we planned for.”
Las Vegas 7s will take place on 3rd-5th March. For more information on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, click here.
