Aussie Sharks down France at world champs

The Australian men's water polo team has bounced back from their thrashing at the hands of hosts Hungary to beat France 11-10 at the world championships.

The Sharks kept their quarter-final hopes alive with the tense group-stage victory in Budapest on Wednesday, with Aaron Younger and Lachlan Hollis each scoring three goals.

The teams were hard to separate throughout the contest, with world No.20 France coming back from two goals down in the first quarter for a 6-6 halftime scoreline.

World No.9 Australia again had a two-goal buffer by the end of the third quarter, maintaining their lead as France scored the final goal of the game with 12 seconds remaining.

"You could see high anxiety on both side," Sharks coach Elvis Fatovic said.

"There were ups and downs for both teams.

"We made some naive mistakes in the last quarter. Without those we could have finished this game much earlier, but that's quite a good lesson and experience for us."

The result comes after Monday's 13-3 loss to world No.2 Hungary, with an encounter with fifth-ranked Italy on Saturday wrapping up their preliminary-round campaign.