Australia celebrated its World Rugby Sevens Series title by stunning New Zealand with a drought-breaking 21-17 win in the cup final in Canada on Monday (AEST).
The Aussies had already secured series victory during the tournament by accruing enough points to make their lead unassailable ahead of second-placed France.
Olympic champions New Zealand did not compete in the opening five tournaments because of COVID-19.
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“It’s awesome to have New Zealand back in the series, we’ve been looking forward to playing them for such a long time after not matching up in Tokyo,” Australia captain Charlotte Caslick said.
“It was an awesome effort by the girls. It would have been bittersweet if we didn’t come away with the tournament win so we’ll definitely be celebrating pretty hard tonight.”
Young gun Lily Dick scored the match-winning try in extra time as Australia’s patience finally opened up the desperate Kiwi defence.
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New Zealand had won every Langford title since 2016 and had beaten Australia in the last five World Series finals between the two sides.
It was Australia’s first victory over New Zealand in more than four years.
“Down a couple of points we knew we had to win that scrum or get a turnover,” Dick said.
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“We were just so composed at the end to keep passing the ball back and forth and then it just opened up at the end.”
The final tournament of the series is in Toulouse, France.
CUP FINAL: Australia 21 (Maddison Levi, Charlotte Caslick, Lily Dick tries; Sharni Williams 2 cons, Dominique du Toit con) New Zealand 17 (Alena Saili, Sarah Hirini, Michaela Blyde tries; Tyla Nathan-Wong con) HT: 7-10
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