“That’s the difficult part of our game – it’s a full-contact sport.
“Carty’s amazing. He’s an incredible person.
“I just want to give a shout-out to his family – his grandma passed away last week.
“Carty’s going through a bit at the moment, and I just wanted to send my love to their family.”
Australia adapted beautifully to the 35-degree conditions, with the home side breaking NZ’s spirits with the first two tries of the second half to open up a 21-7 lead.
“We’re the fittest team out here,” Turner said.
“We may not be the biggest, but when it gets to those 10 to 12 minutes (of a 14-minute match), we start coming back and we start really putting the tempo on teams.
“We were clinical, we finished a couple of good tries off, and we defended well.”
The win over Great Britain was a nail-biter.
Australia led 19-0 before Great Britain scored three quick tries to go ahead 21-19.
But Australia came out on top after Hadley Tonga scored an acrobatic try in the corner after the final siren.
“It feels great,” Tonga said.
“All the boys have confidence in me and my speed, so I’m very grateful to score that try in the corner.”
Australia’s last-gasp win meant NZ sneaked into the semi-finals at the expense of Great Britain.
The Australian women opened their account with an eight-tries-to-one hammering of Great Britain, with Heidi Dennis scoring a hat-trick.
It was a perfect way to bounce back from the 36-7 hammering Australia copped at the hands of NZ in the Singapore Sevens final last Sunday.
The ever prolific Maddison Levi scored one try in the win over GB, a brace in the France victory, and another two in their final group match against Canada.
