The Australian men's rugby sevens team suffered an upset quarter-final loss in the Dubai Sevens, losing 21-12 to Wales before recovering to finish fifth in the tournament.
South Africa won the competition, beating Olympic gold medallists and two-time defending series champions Fiji 26-14 in the final.
Wales were first to strike against Australia, going out to a 7-0 lead before the men in gold levelled the score.
Simon Kennewell then scored to give Australia a 12-7 lead at the break before Wales came roaring back with 14 unanswered points to take the victory.
The loss left the team and coach Andy Friend heavily disappointed.
"Credit to Wales they are a good aside and they played better than us and they took their chances," he said.
The loss seemed to steel the Australians and they went on to beat New Zealand 20-12 and then Scotland 19-12.
The win over New Zealand saw tries to Boyd Killingworth, Sam Myers, Henry Hutchison and Alex Gibbon.
Myers was again at the heart of the scoring against Scotland.
He burned the covering the Scottish defence after a solid passage of play to take the score 5-0, before a late converted try to the Scots gave them the 7-5 lead heading into the break.
The second half saw the same struggle between the two teams as defence was the order of the day on tired legs.
Again, Australia struck first with a try that allowed the men in gold to take the lead 12-7 before Tim Anstee buried the Scots with a late try.
Friend was happy with the way his team bounced back and especially happy to get past New Zealand.
"It's massive for us to beat New Zealand, it's a good feeling and the performance we put out against Scotland was special for the team," he said.
