While they sit fourth on the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series ladder, which would automatically qualify them for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, one team is close behind.

"This tournament is do or die sort of talk I guess," Australian captain Sharni Williams told World Rugby on Thursday.

"We've got France sitting below us and we really need to stay in front of them and put on a good performance.

"But first and foremost we always say it's about us, and focusing on what we can do."

Australia had to settle for sixth place at Kitakyushu, which saw their chances for a spot at Tokyo 2020 take a hit.

The 2016 Olympic champions suffered a 21-7 loss in the quarterfinals to England which put them 5th place playoff matches. While they were able to overcome Ireland with relative ease, however, a hard-fought battle against Series leaders New Zealand wasn't enough.

"We weren't happy with sixth place so we've been taking the responsibility of the same team and we're going to go out there and show what we're capable of doing," Williams said.

The last time Australia was in Langford, they finished second after a 46-0 loss to old foes New Zealand in the final. 

Unfortunately, Williams was not part of that team after being sidelined with an ankle injury from the Commonwealth Games ruled her out for most of the season.  

But the team want to go out on Westhills Stadium and re-write what they did last time.

"I was sitting at home injured and really gritting my teeth to get those girls over the line from my positivity and support from the sideline," she said.

"They give everything and we are going to set that right."

Australia has been placed in Pool A alongside Ireland (May 12, 4:06am), Brazil (May 12, 6:50am) and hosts Canada (May 12, 9:56am).