Sid Harvey and his Australian rugby sevens teammates travelled to Hong Kong this week where they will take part in the fifth World Rugby Sevens tournament from Friday.
The three-day event will wrap up with semi-finals and the grand finals on Sunday, which the Aussies are determined to be a part of as they look to climb the rankings ahead of the last seeding tournament in Singapore the following weekend.
Australia are currently sixth on the men’s standings and can lock in a spot in the top eight this weekend to secure their place in the 2025 World Championships finals series at Los Angeles’ Dignity Health Sports Park in May.
The Aussie team was announced last Thursday and Harvey was named to line up in a fifth consecutive tournament.
The 19-year-old Narrabri boy and his teammates have been placed into a pool alongside fourth-placed South Africa, seventh-placed New Zealand and 10th-placed Uruguay, with games against New Zealand and South Africa to be played on Friday night and a battle against the Uruguayans to be played on Saturday afternoon.
The tournament will be the first with Shannon Fraser on board as the Aussie men’s assistant coach. Fraser guided an Australian under-18s team that included Narrabri’s Jonty Fowler to an impressive victory over New Zealand in Hamilton last year in October and he recently coached Jonty’s brother Joey Fowler at the NSW Waratahs under-20s.
Meanwhile, Australia’s women’s sevens team are looking to snatch first place on the overall standings from New Zealand during the Hong Kong and Singapore tournaments.
The Aussie women are currently ranked second following two gold medal finishes and a bronze medal finish in the first four tournaments. They have been placed in Pool C alongside Spain, Canada and Japan in Hong Kong.
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