Australia's grit has got them this far, but men's sevens coach Andy Friend knows they will need more than that against a fired-up New Zealand in Sunday's Sydney 7s quarter-final.
The home side won a thriller 24-21 against Scotland, scoring late then defending with just six men after the siren to remain undefeated from their three pool games.
Australia led at halftime, but two Scotland tries to open the second half gave the visitors a late 21-17 lead.
Australia stayed calm though, working their way forward and regaining a 24-21 lead through Tom Lucas, who had come into the 12 for the injured Boyd Killingworth (hamstring).
Tom Connor was sin-binned upon the restart for taking the man in the air as Scotland chased an overtime match-winner.
Wins against Canada and USA meant Australia topped their pool and set up a mouth-watering clash with New Zealand.
The USA's big defeat of Canada pushed them clear of the luckless Scots into second place.
While proud of the side's ability to scrap and claw, Friend warned they needed to sharpen their decision making against the current World Series leaders.
"There's a lot of character in this team ... one of our traits we try and be is unrelenting and they were definitely unrelenting today," the coach said.
"Our highs were very high, lows were just ill-discipline at the wrong times and we made some pretty poor decisions, which tomorrow in a quarter final is going to hurt you."
Earlier, New Zealand looked to have sealed top spot in their pool when they lead Fiji 17-14 with 10 seconds on the clock in their final pool game.
The Kiwis opted to kick across field in search of a try, gifting the Olympic champions possession and a chance to steal it.
They didn't need to be asked twice, taking the ball 90m to score the match-winner and delight the huge Fijian contingent.
"Tomorrow, when we get the football, we've got to make smarter decisions and try and keep that ball off them and penetrate when our options come," Friend said.
"But they're a good side and going to be hurting from that defeat."
