The Manu Samoa Sevens have lost their first game of the Singapore 7s, going down to Australia 26-17 to open their scorecard in their first tournament after two years with a defeat.

It was Samoa’s first game in the World Rugby Sevens Series after not playing in a tournament since the Canada Sevens in Vancouver in March 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19.

Despite the strong start, the boys in blue could not hang on as Australia raised the tempo in the second half.

The match started off in a rather frantic pace with Samoa scoring a try in the opening two minutes through Uaina Sione.

Australia responded immediately with a stretch down the line by Corey Toole, before executing a flick pass back to debutant Matthew Gonzalez, who dotted under the sticks allowing for an easy conversion by Dietrich Roache to take the lead.

Moments later, 20-year-old Samoan debutant, Steve Rimoni, regathered a kick in an open back field to score Samoa’s second try to take the lead before half time.

But it was not to be as Australia returned from half time to score right away when Josh Turner regathered the kick-off to score 8 seconds into the second half.

A handling error near Samoa’s goal line gave Australia the buffer they needed as Corey Toole happily collected a turn over and crossed over to record their third try.

Samoa’s final try was scored by Steve Rimoni who marked his debut with a double after he collected the ball from the ruck and ran twenty metres.

The Manu had no opportunity to build an attack in the dying moments as Australia ran away with another try to Timothy Clements in the final minutes to seal the deal for the men in gold.

Samoa face England in their second Pool B match at 7.34 pm Samoa Time.