Samoa Down Champs
Defending champions Australia loses on Day one
The Oceania 7s defending champions Australia suffered their first loss to Manu Samoa going down 24-5 at the ANZ Stadium, Suva, yesterday.
Samoa remained unbeaten in Day One of competitions thumping Solomon Islands 52-0 then going on to beat Cook Islands 33-5.
Australia 7s coach Andy Friend said their game against Samoa was very physical and losing their captain John Porch to injury during their first game did not help.
But regardless of the loss, Friend said the competition has given him an insight to the new blood in the squad.
“It has been a tough day for us, we lost our captain early in the third minute of the first game which is really disappointing,” Friend said.
“But the boys did a lot of good things.
“Samoa was really physical in that last game and had a much quicker reaction around the ball.
“Losing Porch is no excuse for us, that is why we got these new boys to begin with and it is good challenge for them and an opportunity for them to rise up.
“I thought we did some really good things throughout the day. You only learn by playing in these games and the new boys have been really good.”
Edited by Osea Bola
