Australia have paid dearly for an indiscretion from Maurice Longbottom in their 17-14 loss to hosts New Zealand in a tense men’s semi-final at the rugby world sevens series tournament.

An upset looked on the cards on Sunday in Hamilton as Australia took a 14-5 lead into halftime, threatening to reach just their second final in two years.

However, Longbottom was shown a yellow card soon after the break for what was deemed a deliberate knock-on.

It was the game’s turning point, as New Zealand created quickfire tries to Regan Ware and Dylan Collier while the experienced playmaker spent two minutes in the sinbin.

A desperate Australia couldn’t add to their first-half tries to captain Nick Malouf and Henry Hutchison, leaving them to prepare for the bronze playoff against England.

Series leaders New Zealand will face France in the decider.

It has nevertheless been an encouraging weekend for Tim Walsh’s Australians, heading into next week’s round in Sydney, having come to Hamilton ranked ninth after two rounds.

They completed some strong pool form earlier in the day with a 33-19 win over Samoa and earned an unexpected trip to the final four when tournament defending champions and group favourites Fiji were stunned 26-10 by Argentina.

Josh Turner’s hat-trick was a highlight against the Samoans but the match was spoiled by a knee injury to Ben O’Donnell.

The classy O’Donnell, playing his first tournament of the season since surgery, was taken to hospital for scans. Walsh will hope the injury won’t affect the 24-year-old’s availability for July’s Tokyo Olympic Games.

New Zealand will be favoured in the final against France, who have never won a world series event.

The French pipped England 10-5 in their semi-final.