A promising Australian campaign at the world sevens rugby tournament in Wellington was ended in abrupt style by New Zealand in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
After marching unbeaten through pool play in impressive style on Friday, the Australians were eclipsed 24-5 by the series leaders and tournament defending champions on Saturday.
New Zealand looked scratchy in pool play but protected possession better than their young opponents and boasted the more dangerous gamebreakers in speedsters Gillies Kaka and Ben Lam.
Kaka scored the opening try before Lam and Sam Dickson took advantage of a numerical advantage either side of halftime to secure the result.
Australian Ben Adams was shown a yellow card for taking Tim Mikkelson out off the ball. The decision appeared a harsh one and his two minutes on the sideline proved critical.
Kaka bagged his second midway through the second spell before Tom Cusack scored a consolation for Australia.
Michael O’Connor’s young side have yet to reach the semi-finals in four legs of the International Rugby Board series but will improve slightly on their 10th place in the series before this week.
They were impressive in pool play, beating Portugal 24-5, Fiji 21-12 and Scotland 29-5.
Their next match is against South Africa in the semi-finals of the Plate competition.
The Cup semi-finals will pit New Zealand against Kenya and Samoa against England.