Coach John Manenti does not accept there is a second-day malaise affecting his Australian team after they finished outside the medals at the New Zealand leg of the women’s rugby world sevens series.

Following an unbeaten run through pool play, Australia lost their semi-final 28-19 to Canada in Hamilton on Sunday and followed up with a 19-14 loss to France in the bronze play-off match.

They remain second in the overall series standings heading into next week’s tournament in Sydney but some way below the standards being set by runaway leaders New Zealand, who outclassed Canada 24-7 in the final in Hamilton.

It is a pattern that has dogged Manenti’s team through the first four rounds this season – where they have recorded two second-place finishes and two fourths – and much of their 2018-19 campaign but he is downplaying any concern six months out from the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Manenti said injuries and suspensions have been a greater problem than consistency through the first half of the eight-leg world series.

This week they were missing Rio 2016 Olympic gold-medal stars Charlotte Caslick, Evania Pelite and Shannon Parry.

“We’ve had two silvers and two fourths in the tournaments. You could say we’re not nailing it because we’re not winning it,” Manenti told AAP.

“The two previous tournaments, we played really young teams. To walk away with a silver in Cape Town was a tremendous effort, although obviously I’d like to win gold every time we play.

“We know day two is where the action is but I’ll keep looking at young players. We continue to improve and go to Sydney with high hopes.”

If Australia do not win next week, the Olympic champions’ world series gold medal drought will stretch beyond two years.

They showed promising signs in an unbeaten pool run in Hamilton but silly mistakes proved costly against the Canadians, who bagged two late tries after Dominique Du Toit’s touchdown put Australia five points up going into the final two minutes.

“It was just silly mistakes near the end that cost us so we kind of fudged that game, which we had plenty of opportunity to win,” Manenti said.

He deliberately fielded a young team for the bronze-medal match against the French to rest some of his seniors ahead of the Sydney tournament.

Returning star Emilee Cherry did not feature against France after picking up a hip niggle that has her in doubt for next week.

STANDINGS AFTER FOUR ROUNDS:

New Zealand 76 points, Australia 64, Canada 62, USA 60, France 56, Russia 32, England 26, Fiji 26.