Walsh open-minded on recruiting from Super Rugby
Men's sevens coach Tim Walsh says he is happy with the current crop of Australian players but has not ruled out recruiting a Super Rugby star for the run into the Tokyo Olympics next year.
With Olympic qualification on the line in the current World Series, Australia is looking more and more like it will be battling South Africa and England to finish fourth on the table and secure one of the automatic qualifier berths.
Australia were dominant at times during the tournament and took the battle to the Flying Fijians in the first quarter-final, opening the scoring then level-pegging until the visitors ran away with it 22-17 in the closing minutes.
At other times they lacked urgency and physicality, and were hit against Fiji when Maurice Longbottom and Josh Coward - very similar attacking threats - both limped off injured.
Walsh said he was happy with the squad composition after augmenting his predecessor Andy Friend's assembly with key recruits such as Nick Malouf, Henry Hutchison and Michael Wells. But he said he was always open to recruiting the right player from Super Rugby.
"We wouldn't say no to some of the best players in the world, which are in Australia, but happy with what we've got and where they're progressing to," Walsh said.
The cross-format debate looked to be dead and buried after Quade Cooper failed to make the grade ahead of the Rio Olympics and Friend concentrated on bringing through sevens specialists.
But Walsh has shown he is a fan of players who spend time in XVs and sevens, with Wells and Malouf both playing professionally in XVs before returning to the shortened format.
In the complex architecture of the World Series, Australia's Olympic qualification case was helped when England beat South Africa 26-5 in the fourth quarter final at Spotless Stadium on Sunday.
"The top three (New Zealand, USA and Fiji) seem to be getting away so it is pretty much at this stage a fight for fourth," Walsh said.
"It wasn't a bad thing that England beat South Africa, because South Africa were a bit ahead of England overall. We beat South Africa so we'll get some points there, England will get further ahead but overall it's not as bad. It's really important that we scrap for every point."