Unbeaten Australia advanced to the quarter-finals of the Adelaide Sevens and an encounter with Fiji after beating England 17-12 in a spirited final pool match on day two.

The result eliminated England from the cup competition, punishment for an upset loss to the USA on opening night.

Kimami Sitauti ran in two tries for the home side before Liam Gill crossed the line for the winner in front of about 9,000 spectators at Adelaide Oval.

Gill was sent off for a high tackle in the closing minutes, but a handful of desperate tackles guided the Australians through.

Their victory had the added benefit of pushing them closer to passing England into fourth on the IRB Sevens table.

The usual suspects New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji and Samoa all advanced, while Argentina and Wales also progressed to the cup quarter-finals.

Australia had earlier trounced the USA 36-0 to secure their path to the knockout phases of the tournament.

The Australians ran in six tries to nil, including a hat-trick to their opportunist centre Karauria-Henry.

Clearly exhausted by his efforts against England, McCutcheon said his team was growing in character and stature, as evidenced by their ability to stand up to an England side fighting to avoid elimination.

"Throughout the season we've been looking at how we can build character and that's come a long way," he said.

"It was a courageous win by the boys - six men on the field in the dying seconds, even with a few penalties, to hold them out, that's character building.

"I'm a little bit buggered but the team is starting to perform so the boys are starting to realise they can be genuine contenders in this international tournament, we're starting to shrug that young, underdog tag."

Though a loss to England would have seen the Australians play the less fancied Wales rather than long-time sevens power Fiji, McCutcheon denied any temptation to contrive a result by saying every win was building the team for the future.

Sunday's other cup quarters will see New Zealand face Samoa and Wales take on the USA before South Africa play off against Argentina.

American player Paul Emerick was banned for three matches for dangerous play during his side's win over Niue.

This rules him out of the remainder of the USA's campaign, which begins with a quarter-final against Wales.

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