Australia have fallen just short in the final of the Vancouver men’s sevens tournament, losing 17-14 to world series leaders New Zealand in a thriller.
The Australians led 14-5 at half-time but had two players yellow-carded in the second half with New Zealand pouncing to secure their 10th successive win over their trans-Tasman rivals.
Australia got off to a sterling start and raced to an early lead when Nick Malouf put leading tryscorer Lachie Anderson through a gap.
Flyer Joe Ravouvou then got his team on the scoreboard when he started and finished the attack as the Kiwis worked the ball across the field to trail 7-5.
Maurice Longbottom however extended that lead with the last play of the first half, when he outpaced the New Zealand chasers in a 50m dash to the line.
Less than a minute into the second stanza the Aussies were down a man when Longbottom was yellow-carded for a high tackle and their opponents used the overlap for Andrew Newstubb to stroll across the line.
Longbottom was joined soon after by Lachie Miller for deliberately slowing down the ball and with five men against seven New Zealand hit the lead with Ravouvou grabbing his second.
As the clock wound down New Zealand also lost a man with Sam Dickson binned, but Australia blew a golden chance to score with a two-man overlap with veteran Lewis Holland throwing a forward pass.