Australia beat Tonga 50-0 in the final of the Oceania qualifying tournament in Auckland to ensure they will be a part of the Olympics next year.

It was a moment former Canberra schoolboy rivals Cusack and Holland had been fighting for since making their respective switches to sevens to chase their rugby goals.

But their next challenge could come in the form of Super Rugby players who want to bid for Olympic gold as the competition for spots heats up over the next 263 days.

It's a long way from the schoolboy battles that Marist junior Cusack and St Edmund's College speedster Holland had on the fields of Canberra when they were growing up.

"It's a massive relief. It's an odd feeling ... it's like a big weight has been lifted off the shoulders," said Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Cusack.

"To be able to say we're going to Rio, it's an unbelievable feeling. It's been a long journey to get here, it might sink in by the end of tonight.

"As an Aussie kid growing up and a sports fan, to go to the pinnacle which is the Olympics is amazing. Hopefully we can all be there, there's going to be some selection headaches down the track."

Australia let in just one try in their six games, cruising to victories against Nauru, the Cook Islands and Tonga on the opening day before beating American Samoa, Papua New Guinea and then Tonga in the final.

They missed automatic qualification for the Olympics after finishing too low in the world series sevens rankings at the end of the season.

But they got redemption in the best possible way by showing no mercy to their opponents at the two-day event in New Zealand.

ACT Brumbies winger Henry Speight was left out of the squad, but will be a part of the Rio Olympics campaign while Wallabies Quade Cooper, Israel Folau and Bernard Foley have also been floated as candidates.

Canberra has a remarkable link to the Australian sevens side, with several players either growing up in the capital or making their mark in the first-grade and Brumbies Academy systems.

Holland grew up in Braidwood and played for St Edmund's while Cusack was his arch nemesis at Marist College.

Pama Fou (Wests), James Stannard (Brumbies and Queanbeyan) and Jesse Parahi (Tuggeranong) played in the John I Dent Cup while Michael Wells has signed an extended player squad contract to play Super Rugby in Canberra next year.

Young gun Henry Hutchison trained with the Brumbies for the pre-season last year after an invitation from coach Stephen Larkham and he is rated as one of the hottest prospects in Australian rugby.

Holland made the switch to sevens five years ago "for a bit of fun". Rugby was a side project for a country kid who wanted to work in the Northern Territory on a cattle station.

"There's a population of 1000 at Braidwood and then going to St Edmund's ... the Olympics definitely wasn't on the horizon," Holland said.

"I was more going down the path of an apprenticeship or going to the Northern Territory. But you've got to take your chances in life.

"The Olympics will be huge, something to cherish if I get to go there. We can't get too carried away, we've got a big season coming up."