Australia went into the Commonwealth Games rugby sevens as one of the favourites to topple the mighty New Zealand, having seen their Southern Hemisphere rivals pick up every single gold medal since the sport was introduced in 1998.
They came up against the All Blacks in the last four, however, and were beaten in a repeat of the 2010 final, forcing them to settle for a place in the bronze-medal match against Samoa.
They ended the weekend on a high, however, as they picked up the final spot on the podium with a comfortable 24-0 victory in the third-place playoff against the Pacific Islanders.
The star of the show for the Aussies was Greg Jeloudev, who scored seven tries overall, including two to help his side to bronze. After the match, he talked to Sports Mole about his campaign.
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It may not be a colour you dreamt of, but how does it feel to be a Commonwealth Games bronze medalist?
"It feels fantastic. We can't complain at the end of the day. We were beaten by a Kiwi team that kind of outclassed us, but with the bronze and only one loss we can't complain."
You had a very impressive weekend from an individual standpoint - how happy are you with your personal displays?
"Yeah, I am happy, but saying that it is a team performance and I was getting some clean ball from what the boys were doing up front and our ball play. Those individual things are always nice, but it's the greater team effort that is more important to me."
What was the difference in that Samoa game? You beat them relatively easily in the end.
"Sevens is a funny game. At the end of the day, we've fronted up and put a dominant display in, not only for ourselves but for all our fans supporting us. So we just fronted up and that's what I'd put it down to."
Was it difficult to pick yourselves up from the disappointment of losing to New Zealand in the semi-finals?
"Yeah, it was a little. In sevens you can lose a game but you've always got the next game to look forward to, so you dust yourself off and you get on with your job."
Australia were joined on the podium by South Africa and the All Blacks, who won the gold and silver respectively.
Barney Corkhill
