That winning mentality is what David Grimmond wants to instil in his University of Canberra sevens squad after another fifth-place finish left him with a case of deja vu.

The University of Canberra finished fifth in round three of the University Sevens Series with a pulsating 22-21 win over the University of New England in Brisbane on Sunday.

But again they could have been playing off for something much bigger if they managed to wipe out a few inconsistencies at crucial moments.

"I told them 'you’ve got to have this fear of losing'," Grimmond said.

"Because you’ve got to work yourself into a condition where winning is something you get used to, and losing is something you don’t ever want. It’s a stage we’re slowly working towards anyway.

"It means what we’re doing as a team is really starting to work. A lot of self-belief, that’s the big thing. Self-belief in each other and they’re really tightening up on their defence which has been really good, they’re working for each other."

Canberra entered the day on top of their pool but slipped out of the reckoning for first place in Pool A when they went down 22-17 in a thriller against Sydney University.

The defeat left Canberra staring down the barrel of sliding down as far as 10th leading into the fifth-place semi-final against the University of Tasmania.

But Canberra dominated Tasmania 29-0 to claim their place in the fifth-place playoff, leaving their vanquished rivals to contest the ninth-place playoff against the University of Adelaide.

Canberra had one hand on fifth place when Kasey Dragisic and Sammie Wood crossed to give them a lead over New England - but it was a lead they only held for a few fleeting moments.

New England scored from the kick-off to take a four-point lead into the half-time break.

But Jane Garraway and Paremo Marsh scored the first two tries of the second half to give Canberra an eight-point lead - one that ultimately proved insurmountable despite a late try to New England.

"It was a bloody arm-wrestle, a coach’s nightmare," Grimmond said.

"All the big teams are getting beaten by each other at the moment and even by some of the lower universities. The standard is very good, it’s getting better every tournament we play and the games are just tighter.

"Playing UNE again in the playoff for fifth [was a sense of deja vu]. We beat them in golden point time in Canberra two weeks ago and we beat them by one point on the bell this week.

"We take home the fifth place, and that’s better than sixth, I’ll give you that much. I think we’ll still stay pretty high on the overall table too."

Canberra will be back in action for round four at Bond University on the Gold Coast on October 6-7.