Source : ABC NEWS
James Turner is not joking when he says the Australian men’s rugby sevens team relishes stressful moments.
“We thrive in it,” Turner explained matter-of-factly when he spoke to ABC Sport over the phone from France.
Last weekend’s final at the second leg of the World Championship in Spain proved his point.
Australia found itself trailing South Africa 14-0 after just three minutes in the tournament decider in Valladolid.
The Blitzboks, as South Africa is known, were already riding a wave of confidence after winning the opening World Championship round in Hong Kong.
They had also dominated the preceding regular season, winning four of the six tournaments.
As they established their commanding lead over Australia in the Valladolid final, the Blitzboks were seemingly headed towards another victory.
But with their backs to the wall, the Australians refused to panic.
“We weren’t really that worried when we were 14-0 down,” Turner said.
“We knew we just needed to get the ball.”
James Turner was among Australia’s best in Valladolid. (Getty Images: David Sarmiento)
It was Turner who kick-started Australia’s comeback, beating three defenders to score his side’s opening try late in the first half.
Ethan McFarland, Ben Dowling and captain Henry Hutchison also crossed the stripe, and with the aid of some conversions, Australia led 26-14 with three minutes left in the final.
But three minutes is an eternity in rugby sevens, and there were still some nervous moments ahead for Turner and his teammates.
First, Turner was sent off after he made contact with the head of Blitzboks opponent Jayden Nell while trying to complete a tackle.
The contact was unintentional, but referee Nick Hogan followed the letter of the law and showed Turner a red card.
More drama followed when Gino Cupido scored out wide for the Blitzboks with just 30 seconds on the clock, before they appeared to be on the cusp of levelling scores and sending the final into extra time.
Shilton van Wyk had touched down under the posts after the full-time siren had sounded, setting up a simple conversion attempt.
But after Hogan consulted the television match official, the try was disallowed because of a forward pass, sending the Australian players into raptures as they celebrated their first victory on the World Rugby circuit in four years.
“Twenty-six unanswered points showed that when we have the ball, we are pretty hard to stop,” Turner said.
“We just needed to keep positive, and get the ball back and that’s what we did.”
Aussies switch focus to Bordeaux
The win capped off an unbeaten Valladolid campaign for Australia, who also defeated the Blitzboks in the pool stage.
It also followed Australia’s 27-14 triumph over the USA in the women’s final.
Australia had not won both the men’s and women’s events at the same World Rugby tournament since 2018.
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The Australian women are on top of the World Championship standings heading into this weekend’s final round in Bordeaux.
The men’s team are also in contention for the world title, having jumped from sixth to third place on the standings following their win.
South Africa leads on 38 points, ahead of Argentina (34) and Australia (30).
As confident as Turner is about Australia’s form, the incredible depth in the men’s competition means there is no clear favourite in Bordeaux.
Among Australia’s pool opponents is Spain, which won 19-5 when the two teams last met in the Hong Kong quarterfinals.
“Everyone in our competition can win it, and that is sort of what makes it a bit more exciting,” Turner said.
“Back in the day, you used to be able to go into a game and put your feet up a little bit.
“But every game is sort of a grand final, so you’ve got to prep well and have trust in the boys.”
No doubt there will be more stressful moments for Australia, but Turner would not have it any other way.
“It’s high stress, but I think we love the stress,” he said.
