FORMER Wallaby Stephen Hoiles has been hired to help Australia’s struggling men’s sevens team qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

New head coach Tim Walsh has promised to shake things up after Australia finished a dismal 10th at this year’s World Cup in San Francisco, where he described the team’s limp performance as akin to melting like candles.

With just 12 spots available for the Olympic competition - and one of those guaranteed for the host-nation Japan - there isn’t any room for mistakes so Walsh has wasted no time changing his staff.

In addition to Hoiles, who will specialise on the set pieces, Walsh has also brought across some key staff members from the women’s team, which he coached to win the Olympic gold in Rio.

“Stephen is intelligent, creative and knows how to win. As a player he was ruthless on and off the field and played with vision and flare as a ball playing backrower,” Walsh said.

“We are at the beginning of a very important season and the management team have all the confidence and strategies to deliver an environment where each player will have the opportunity to perform at their best.”

The long qualifying process for Tokyo 2020 starts in November with the opening round of the Sevens World Series in Dubai.

The top four teams from the series will qualify directly for the Olympics. If Australia doesn’t finish in the top four, they will have to win either the Oceania regional qualifying tournament or a repechage to secure a spot at the Games.