Factual. Independent. Impartial.
Support AAP with a free or paid subscription
Sport
Murray Wenzel

Sobering sevens Sydney battles in historic tune-ups

Maddison Levi doubled up for Australia, but New Zealand won their sevens clash at Accor Stadium. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)

Maddison Levi scored twice and Maurice Longbottom produced a trademark side-step, but Australia's men's and women's sevens outfits were left winless in their Bledisloe Cup curtain-raisers in Sydney.

The Australian sides featured in historic Saturday fixtures, sharing the field with their 15-a-side equivalents for the first time when sandwiched between Wallaroos and Wallabies Tests at Accor Stadium.

But the men drew 19-19 with two-time Olympic champions Fiji, losing a scrum against the feed in the final seconds before conceding.

And the women, reigning world champions who had beaten rivals New Zealand twice on Friday, were clunky in a 21-12 defeat that followed on Saturday.

The men split their Friday double-header with Fiji and looked set to steal a win on Saturday with two late tries, including a Longbottom special when he stepped twice off his right foot to beat two men then scoot over.

Maurice Longbottom
Maurice Longbottom powers over for a try in Australia's sevens draw with Fiji in Sydney. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)

Levi's double was not enough after the visitors scored the game's first three tries.

Both sides have recently resumed pre-season training ahead of their world series openers in Dubai next month.

License this article

Sign up to read this article for free
Choose between a free or paid subscription to AAP News
Start reading
Already a member? Sign in here
Top stories on AAP right now