Aussie devastation in bronze medal match as captain sent-off, South Africa scores late winner

PARIS: Australia's rugby sevens team was left shattered after missing out on a Paris 2024 bronze medal by the barest of margins, South Africa scoring with the last play of the match to win it 26-19.

After a thumping 31-7 loss to Fiji in their semi-final, the Aussies regrouped to score first against South Africa in the Bronze medal match.

But the match turned against coach John Manenti's chargers early in the second half when Aussie captain Nick Malouf was sent from the field for a high tackle midway through a movement that ended in a try to the Blitzboks.

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Now down 12-7, it was always going to be an uphill battle to contain the South Africans with almost five minutes still to play, but the Aussies dug deep and almost pulled off a Paris miracle.

After conceding another try, Australia mounted an unlikely comeback, with the momentum swinging when speedster Corey Toole seized the initiative with a long range kick-chase try that brought the score back to 19-14 following a successful conversion.

A knock on from the kick-off gave the ball back to Australia, with the freshly injected Mark Nawaqanitawase drawing on some magic to make a break before a basketball style pass led to a Matt Gonzalez try.

With about one minute left to play Dietrich Roache had a shot at a conversion that would have given Australia a one point lead but he pushed it across the face, giving South Africa one final chance to secure the kick off then launch an attack.

They did just that, scoring a long-range try that broke the hearts of their six-man opponents, with Shaun Williams handed the ball to plant down next to the posts to secure the bronze medal.

"It's heartbreak for the Aussies," Nine commentator Sean Maloney said.

"The bravest of brave Aussies performances."

As the host nation claimed their first gold medal over Fiji (28-7) in front of the 70,000 stacked stadium, the Aussies fell to the turf in bitter disappointment.

"It's a tough way to finish, we fought so hard to get back in the game," Australia coach John Manenti said.

"We threw all our attacking weapons on and threw the dice. Six men, down two and got ourselves back in the fight... the guys played their hearts out.

"We're all devastated at the moment but when we go home and think about how we played for three days in a row at this stadium in front of 70,000 people it's a good result and pretty special."

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Clouded by the emotion of missing his third Olympic podium, Malouf declared his honour to don the green and gold jersey.

"We wanted to leave everything out there and I think the last few minutes of that game you probably saw that more than ever," Nick said.

"We've been trying to do this all tournament long and it wasn't quite enough in the end.

"I'm super grateful for all the support here in Paris and back home. I've known for a while how special this time is and what a great bunch of men they are. I'm really proud Australia got to see that."