New Zealand won a thrilling arm-wrestle of a gold medal match against brave and determined Canada to send rugby legends Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and Tyla King into retirement with gold medals around their necks.
Earlier, Canada and USA had both sprung Olympic upsets on a dramatic afternoon at Stade de France, as they each beat one of the hot favourites for gold, Australia, in consecutive matches.
Canada were the first to upset the form book, beating the reigning Rugby World Cup Sevens champions and SVNS Grand final winners in the medal semi-finals, before Emilie Bydwell became the first female head coach to win a medal as USA wrote their names into history, stunning Rio 2016 gold medallists Australia, in the bronze medal match.
GOLD MEDAL MATCH: NEW ZEALAND 19-12 CANADA
New Zealand claimed gold in an enthralling finale to the women's competition in front of another passionate full house at Stade de France.
The defending champions got off to the fastest start, with co-captain Risi Pouri-Lane cutting inside and running 50 metres to score under the posts.
Much of the early action was deep in Canadian territory, as ferocious New Zealand defence kept them pinned on their line, until Portia Woodman-Wickliffe was yellow-carded for a high tackle.
The player advantage allowed Canada to work their way out of their half – and Chloe Daniels took full advantage, bursting clear to level the scores. And, with Woodman-Wickliffe just back on the pitch, Alysha Corrigan collected a loose New Zealand pass to take gutsy Canada into the lead at the break.
It didn’t last long. Michaela Blyde found a route through three defenders to the line after a quick tap from Jorja Miller to give New Zealand a two-point advantage.
Sarah Hirini, who came straight into the defending champions’ squad for the Olympics 28 weeks after suffering a serious knee injury at the opening SVNS series tournament in Dubai, then broke clear and fed Stacey Waaka, who extended the lead to seven, at the end of an incredibly competitive encounter.
BRONZE MEDAL MATCH: USA 14-12 AUSTRALIA
USA’s Alex Sedrick raced from under her own posts with the clock in the red to score the decisive length-of-the-pitch try in the dying seconds of a dramatic match to claim bronze.
Maddison Levi had earlier added two more tries – one in each half – to her Paris 2024 tally, drawing level with Portia Woodman-Wickliffe’s overall Olympic record, as Australia looked set to put the heartbreak of their semi-final defeat against Canada behind them.
Alev Kelter had kept USA in the hunt with a powerful run-in from close range, and Kayla Canett could have put them ahead but for a desperate try-saving tackle from Faith Nathan.
An increasingly frustrated Australia struggled to break down determined USA defence in the second half, until Teagan Levi took matters into her own hands, racing deep into USA’s 22 before offloading to her older sister to score with 13 minutes on the clock. It looked to be enough for bronze, until Sedrick’s 90-metre intervention.
MEDAL SEMI-FINALS: NEW ZEALAND 24-12 USA
New Zealand extended their winning streak against USA to 11 matches, a run dating back to October 2019 to book their place in the final with a convincing second-half performance, after a sluggish start saw them fall behind early on.
Kelter’s powerful run, step and fend got USA off to a perfect start, while their organised and determined defence kept New Zealand at bay in the early exchanges.
But Stacey Waaka raced in to get the defending champions on the board after five minutes, and scored another early in the second half. Then Michaela Blyde showed pace, balance and power twice to score her eighth and ninth tries of the competition before Kristi Kirshe got a late consolation for USA.
CANADA 21-12 AUSTRALIA
Canada tore up the semi-final script and pulled off the shock of the tournament in front of another packed and passionate crowd to make it back-to-back wins over hot favourites Australia as temperatures soared in Paris.
Australia had cruised through the tournament to date, and started brightly against a side they had beaten six times in the past seven meetings coming into the semi-finals.
Levi scored her 12th try of Paris 2024, and Sariah Paki crossed to send the 2016 champions into a 12-0 lead in four minutes. But a 75-metre individual tap-and-go try from Charity Williams moments before the break restored Canadian confidence.
And it was all red in the second half, as Australia shipped too many penalties. Asia Hogan-Rochester finished off a messy move early on, before Piper Logan held off Teagan Levi to score the crucial try a minute from time.
PLAY-OFFS
France, Great Britain, Japan and South Africa South all wound up their respective Paris 2024 campaigns on a winning note.
Veteran Chloe Pelle scored on her final appearance for the host nation as they finished fifth with a 21-7 win over China, while Great Britain got the better of Olympic debutants Ireland 28-12 in the seventh-place play-off.
Japan made it three wins in a row to claim ninth place with a dominant 38-7 victory over Brazil, while South Africa beat Fiji 21-15 to win their first-ever Olympic match and claim 11th place.
