Australia has secured the first ever Rugby Sevens Olympic gold medal, securing a seven-point win against rugby-rivals New Zealand.
» REPORT: Australia’s women secure Rugby Sevens glory
Australia was simply too strong in the second stanza and New Zealand couldn’t recover from a pair of late tries in the opening half.
It was a well-deserved win for the Aussies, but credit must be given to the New Zealanders who played their hearts out and thoroughly deserve that silver medal.
Final score
Australia 24
New Zealand 17
Australia continue their surge towards gold in the event’s Olympic debut, as they take on New Zealand in the finale of the women’s Rugby Sevens. Join The Roar from 6:30am (AEST) for live scores and a live blog of all of the matches, as well as the medal results when they are finalised.
Australia brushed aside Canada in their semi-final earlier in the day with a 17-5 win, extending their undefeated run through the tournament.
The Aussies dominated the pools stage with big wins over Colombia (53-0) and Fiji (36-0) as well as a 12-12 draw with USA.
They then knocked over Spain 24-0 in the quarter-finals to progress into the semis, where they met Canada.
Now just one more step stands between Australia and gold medal glory, and it takes the form of a rivalry that has existed in sport nearly as long as the nation itself.
They will clash with perennial rugby rival New Zealand for the gold, after the kiwi girls dominated a hapless Great Britain outfit in the second semi-final.
The Brits scored early, but it was all downhill from there as they conceded five unanswered tries to sink their hopes at a top two finish.
The aforementioned losses to Canada and Britain mean they will duke it out for the bronze medal.
Britain were touted as possible gold medal match contenders before the games began, so they will no doubt head in as favourites against Canada.
Elsewhere in the Sevens, France and USA face off for 5th spot, with Spain and Fiji one game further back in the battle for 7th place to round out the competition.
Can the Aussies capture gold and retake their lead atop the medal standings?
Join The Roar from 6:30am (AEST) for live scores and a live blog of all of the matches, as well as the medal results when they are finalised.
BrainsTrust
Guest
Centralisation means a lot more than training full time. The All Blacks don't practice centralisation, the one time they did miss the SUper Rugby for the world cup to train together for a long period, was a disaster for them. I think picking the best suited players out of Super Rugby and sending them to the Olympics for sevens would work fine, if they had been smart enough to finish super rugby a bit earlier. Australian mens sevens the consequences of centralisation with players on smaller salaries than Super rugby players specialising in sevens , hasn't worked in the world series sevens. South Africa, USA have had success by bringing in some super fast players. Fiji pay their sevens squads a pittance compared to super rugby players. I think the easiest way to derail Fiji would have been to recruit their players with super rugby contracts. Womens is a different kettle of fish, what happens if the US finds out , they can take all their athletes, and they have a large number of them at colleges and put them into womens rugby,
mikeT
Guest
just the truth. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/olympics/82891688/New-Zealand-at-risk-of-losing-sevens-edge-Gordon-Tietjens
BrainsTrust
Guest
The yellow was wasted , a yellow is a massive advantage in sevens and should be minimum two tries. The key moment was Woodman choking when she came back on the field and dropped the ball cold from a fairly tame kick off.
milo
Guest
the fights were brutal
Sylvester
Guest
I had no issue with the awarding of the try on the evidence (albeit wrong). It was her bizarre interpretation at the tackle/ruck that really hurt NZ.
Gus
Guest
I'm sorry the womens 7s is over so soon. It has been a joy to watch.
DJW
Guest
Australia dominated most of the game. It was the yellow that had the biggest effect on the outcome and it was 100% correct call.
DJW
Guest
Nope, ref was fine, touchies got the first aussie try wrong but other then that fine.
Joanne Reynolds
Guest
Congratulations to our Aussie girls for defeating New Zealand and winning the Gold! Fantastic effort! Wooohoo!
mikef
Guest
I love 7s,however,that must rate as the most incompetent ref displays I, have ever witnessed !
Hayley
Guest
Do you mean like Australians did last year after the world cup ;)
Johnno
Guest
Happy aussies girls got gold. But taking my biased blonkers off, no TMO for gold medal game is a joke. The excuse for TMO taking to much time is a joke. For semi's/gold medal game. TMO should be used. NZ were up 5-0 and had most of momentum, that no try changed course of match. WR accepted human error for a gold medal game, when TMO technology was available.
Harry
Guest
Congratulations to the Australian girls on a great gold medal and great season, well deserved and great play. Like all New Zealand teams, very tough and skilful opponents.j
Connor Bennett
Editor
Cheers mate. It's given the women's side of rugby sevens a world stage to showcase their talent. Their World Series goes largely unnoticed below the popular men's version but I think it was a good decision to put the women's draw on first in this case.
Graeme
Guest
I didn't think the ref was awful. The only really terrible decision was the first try, and that was one of the AR's.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
I would say Australia got the best of the contentious decisions but wouldn't it be nice if Kiwi rugby fans could give it 30 minutes or so before they started the moaning and excuses?
maximillian
Guest
Congrats Australia on gold. They were the dominant team all season so deserved the win. Another silver for NZ so well done to them as well.
Machooka
Roar Guru
Unbelievable defence from the Pearls... only five tries for the whole tournament!?!
Al
Guest
Top call Connor, I got to watch a handful of the games - including the 5th place playoff and most of the bronze medal match - and the quality of the games have been incredible. This tournament has been a great spectacle and hopefully allows the women's game to grow.
Connor Bennett
Editor
Australia now join China atop the medal standings with 4 golds, but slip into second place without a silver next to their name