A try after the siren has denied Australia’s rugby sevens men a maiden Olympic medal as they were beaten 26-19 in the Paris bronze medal match by South Africa after being left a man down by a split-second decision.
Everything went wrong for Australia, starved of first-half possession before a tough knock-on call went against them and captain Nick Malouf was red-carded by the referee for a high tackle early in the second half.
Malouf was sent from the field for a high shot that occurred during a try-scoring play by the Blitzboks, with his shoulder whacking his opponent in the jaw – and the split-second incident cost the side dearly.
They trailed 19-7 with two minutes to play but amazingly levelled with tries to Corey Toole and Henry Patterson.
Toole brought his team back into the game with an incredible long-range try that saw him capitalise on a great kick-chase.
Australia’s Mark Nawaqanitawase made a stunning break to set up another try.
South Africa won the crucial restart, however, and Shaun Williams raced down the left wing to break Australian hearts by scoring on the last play of the match.
Earlier, the Aussies were smashed 31-7 by Fiji in their semi-final, with the opposition running in all of their points without answer.
Australia led 7-0 against the two-time defending champions in the shadows of halftime at Stade de France on Saturday but then barely held possession again in the heavy loss.
A 95m effort on halftime equalled proceedings before Fiji regathered all four kick restarts to pile on three more tries and a penalty goal.
Ben Dowling scored for Australia, grubbering ahead and calmly planting the ball to defy the obviously slippery conditions.
Dietrich Roache then nailed the sideline conversion but it all went downhill after that for coach John Manenti’s side.
It was an abrupt halt to a campaign that had been humming along, with Australia forced to reset quickly with a first Olympic medal still up for grabs in the playoff for bronze later on Saturday.
Fiji were unbeaten in Olympic competition until being pipped by France in the final, with the hosts scoring near the death to record a 28-7 victory, leaving the team ecstatic as they took gold.
