Australia's World Cup-winning rugby women have suffered their first defeat of the season in a shock 19-12 loss to Great Britain at the Perth Sevens after having emerging star Teagan Levi sent off in the fifth minute.
But on a mixed day for the home teams on Friday, Australia’s men at least lifted local spirits at the end with their rousing 26-14 win over Great Britain at HBF Park.
Coming off a 31-0 victory over South Africa earlier on Friday, Australia, the 2022 women's World Cup winners who've won the first two World Series events of the season in Dubai and Cape Town, again started promisingly against GB.
They opened the scoring after the outstanding Bienna Terita set up Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea but Levi was sent off in the fifth minute following a head-on-head collision in a tackle.
She will miss Australia’s games on Saturday, being sidelined on the bench alongside her sister Maddison Levi, who is serving out a suspension from her sending off in Cape Town.
Great Britain had levelled at 7-7 just before Levi was dismissed and, within a minute of the red card, Australia hit the front again after the outstanding Terita followed her try double against South Africa with another five-pointer to give the home team a 12-7 halftime lead.
Emma Uren levelled with a try and GB didn’t have to wait long for their decisive score, with Jasmine Joyce racing away.
“It’s pretty heartbreaking," Terita said.
“Especially as were excited to play in front of a home crowd, that's not something we want to put out in front of our fans and families and friends, so hopefully we can recover and come back tomorrow better."
Britain lead the pool by two points going into the final round of matches on Saturday, with Australia second ahead of Canada, who they face in their crucial third match.
Great Britain were one of four women's teams to win two games on Friday
New Zealand defeated Japan and Ireland to lead pool C and Japan, Fiji and France each had.comfortable wins over Spain and Brazil in pool B.
In the men's event, Australia also won one and lost one, suffering a heartbreaking 19-14 golden-point loss to a Perry Baker-inspired USA in their opening match before later beating Great Britain 26-14 to keep their hopes alive.
Tom Emery and Ethan Waddleton scored tries in the first three minutes to set up an early 14-0 lead for the GB men but youngster Darby Lancaster rocketed 45m down the right to score Australia’s first try before halftime
It was one-way traffic in the second half with Henry Palmer. Nathan Lawson and Ben Dowling all crossing as Australia’s control of possession and slick passing and finishing proved decisive.
“It wasn’t perfect by any measure, we started slow and we can’t afford that,” Australian playmaker Maurice Longbottom told Stan Sport.
“But we stuck In there and bit down on the mouthguard.”
Second-placed Australia are now two points behind the USA and one ahead of Ireland who they play on Saturday.
Elesewhere in the men's draw, stacked pool C produced plenty of drama, with Fiji edging regional rivals Samoa 14-7 and coming from 21-7 down to beat France 26-21 with a try in Golden Point overtime.
Earlier, France upset New Zealand 33-17 while the Kiwis shaded Samoa 17-12 in another Golden Point thriller.
In pool A, South Africa and Argentina each won their two games.
