Holland leads Aussie Sevens to Olympic qualification

SEVENS NEWS: The Australian Men’s Sevens team has qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games having defeated Samoa 19-12 in the Olympic Final of the Oceania Sevens Championship in Suva Fiji on Saturday.

Australia came back from a 0-12 deficit to score three unanswered tries, including a charge down try by Captain Lewis Holland to defeat Samoa in wet conditions in the Fijian capital. The win ensured Australia will join the other teams already qualified for the Games in Tokyo next year.

The Aussie men then went on to defeat Fiji in a thrilling final, taking out the overall championship 22-7 and ensuring both Australian teams went undefeated at this year’s Oceania Sevens Championship.

Australia Sevens head coach, Tim Walsh said: “We’re ecstatic, there was a lot of pressure over the last three months on this one game [Samoa]. Preparation breeds confidence and you make your own luck.

“Lewis Holland had a captain’s knock today and that was the difference.

“I’m proud of the whole program, the boys that didn’t play, the boys that are over here and didn’t play.

“Finding a way to win is probably the most pleasing thing out of this whole event.”

Holland added: “The last three months have been building towards this moment because we didn’t qualify through the World Series, that was our first goal, and this was our second hurdle we had to get over if we didn’t overcome the first one.

“The 13 lads that were over here worked really hard over these three days. We were prepared for that game and we adjusted accordingly.”

The @Aussie7s men are through to #Tokyo2020, surviving an almighty scare to beat Samoa 19-12 in their qualifier final in Suva. #Oceania7s

READ; https://t.co/p0ViDCB1RB pic.twitter.com/ZZeBtIJjyW

— RUGBYcomau (@rugbycomau) November 9, 2019