Australia secured their first world title in men’s sevens rugby with bronze in the series finals in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Australia secured first place overall with a 21-7 win over Samoa after defending champions South Africa failed to reach the quarter-finals at Dignity Health Sports Park.
Australia also completed the Women’s World Cup in May.
“It’s been quite an amazing run,” said men’s coach John Manenti.
“It’s very special and certainly nice to have the double.”
The win was a sort of redemption for the Australian men, who missed out on a medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and also disappointed at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, where they fell in the quarterfinals.
The squad’s culture was also put under scrutiny after several players were reprimanded for vandalizing their rooms at the Olympic Athletes’ Village and for being intoxicated on their flight home from Tokyo.
Rugby Australia’s governing body cut funding for the squad after the Olympic failure and required coaches to reapply for their jobs.
However, a job switch between former men’s coach Tim Walsh, now in charge of the women’s squad, and former women’s coach Manenti has worked wonders for both teams.
Under Walsh, Australia’s women took gold in Birmingham and defeated Fiji in the final.
Australia’s men won just one of the World Series’ nine events compared to South Africa’s four, but Manenti’s side have been consistent throughout, taking the podium six times.
They finished the streak with 126 points, two ahead of South Africa, with Fiji third (122 points).
The 13-time world champion from New Zealand won the series final in Los Angeles and defeated Fiji 28-21 in the gold medal decider.
New Zealand finished eighth in the series after missing the first four events due to COVID-19.