A try after the siren has denied Australia’s rugby sevens men a maiden Olympic medal as they were beaten 26-19 in the Paris bronze medal match by South Africa.
Everything went wrong for Australia, starved of first-half possession before a tough knock-on call went against them and captain Nick Malouf was red-carded for a high tackle.
They trailed 19-7 with two minutes to play but amazingly levelled with tries to Corey Toole and Henry Patterson.
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South Africa won the crucial restart though and Shaun Williams raced down the left wing to break Australian hearts.
It was still the side’s best Olympic showing after back-to-back quarter-final exits.
France won gold — their first of Paris 2024 — after an inspired win over Fiji, who were unbeaten in Olympic competition after two straight titles, in the final.
Kookaburras on the march early
A superb Blake Govers strike has propelled Australia’s men’s hockey team to a 1-0 victory against Argentina in their opening game at the Paris Olympics.
Govers’ moment of magic from a penalty corner at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium on Saturday has given the Kookaburras an ideal start to their Olympic campaign.
The triple Olympian blasted a drag flick into the net after the Australians were awarded a penalty corner in the last second of the opening half.
Govers’ expertly-placed shot curled into the right corner as the Kookaburras seized momentum in a tight encounter against the world No.6 Argentinians.
The Kookaburras, ranked two slots higher, created scant scoring opportunities in the opening half until the last-gasp flashpoint – they had less possession and few entries into the attacking area than Argentina in the half.
The second half was a similarly tense affair with a scoreless third term before both nations created chances in the dying stages of the last quarter.
With less than five minutes remaining, Govers attempted to reprise his first-half score: from a penalty corner, he again launched a drag flick towards the right-side net only for the ball to drift just wide.
Argentina had a gilt-edged chance to equalise with just 45 seconds left when awarded a penalty corner.
The ensuing shot created a manic goal-mouth scramble and the Australian defence prevailed as Kookaburras keeper Andrew Charter kept a clean sheet – he saved four shots on target for the game.
Australia’s next fixture is against Ireland on Monday before pool encounters against Belgium, New Zealand and India.