Australia will play Olympic rugby sevens heavyweights Fiji for a spot in the Paris gold-medal game after a 18-0 quarter-final shut-out of the USA.

Australia led 10-0 at halftime, in control and scoring through James Turner and Corey Toole before swarming defence had the US going sideways in the second half.

Toole thought he had a second but was denied when replays showed his foot had slid into touch.

But it didn’t matter as Australia played the final minutes in their offensive quarter with Maurice Longbottom slotting a penalty goal before picking up a loose ball to score and complete the rout.

It snapped a run of quarter-final exits for Australia in the sport’s previous two Games appearances, with the semi-finals and finals to be played on Saturday.

Earlier, Fiji overcame Ireland 19-15, coming from behind and perhaps fortunate when their match-winner looked to have been created by a knock-on from the restart.

It was the two-time defending champion’s 16th straight Olympic win.

South Africa will play hosts France in the other semi-final after they upset New Zealand 14-7.

The French led Argentina 21-0 at halftime but conceded two second-half tries and were forced to hold on with one man in the sin-bin for the final minutes.

French 15-a-side captain Antoine Dupont showed his composure to wind down the clock and then throw a dummy on the full-time siren before racing away to seal a 26-14 win.