PARIS (AFP) – New Zealand's women defended their Olympic sevens title with a gritty, come-from-behind 19-12 victory over Canada on Tuesday as the United States bagged a surprise bronze.
The Kiwis outscored the Canadians by three tries to two in a tense, defence-led match in front of a near-capacity 69,000 crowd at the Stade de France.
"It's pretty special. I'm proud of the team," said Kiwi skipper Risi Pouri-Lane.
"I'm proud of the team around us, the people at home who have supported every single one of us, and helped us get to this moment. It takes a whole tribe, it takes a whole squad.
"We've got some great players retiring after this tournament, and we owe them such a lot. We've learned such a lot from them, and been empowered by them. But not just us, all around the world."
The US, having made their first-ever semi-finals, had earlier upset pre-tournament favourites Australia 14-12 to claim third place.
The final saw Pouri-Lane step past Chloe Daniels and run in from 50 metres for the opening try, also hitting the conversion.
New Zealand pinned Canada back in their own 22m, but when the ball was worked left to Charity Williams, the winger was one-on-one with Portia Woodman-Wickliffe.
However, the New Zealander, a star of both the sevens and 15s game for more than a decade, was shown yellow for the high, covering tackle.
Canada took advantage, Daniels played into space by Olivia Apps for a straight run-in to the line and successfully adding the extras.
Sarah Hirini tried one ambitious offload too many as the Kiwis regathered, Alysha Corrigan intercepting and showing a clean pair of heels for Canada's second try to leave it 12-7 at half-time.
New Zealand started the second period exactly as they needed to, the impressive Michaela Blyde stepping inside Corrigan for a fine try, converted by Tyla King to hand them back the lead.
Stacey Wakaa then got the decisive score following a fine Hirini break and some slick inter-passing between those two and King.
A dramatic bronze medal match saw Maddison Levi score two more tries to finish on a record 14 for the tournament.
The previous best in an Olympics was Woodman-Wickliffe's tally of 10 for New Zealand at the 2016 Rio Games.
But it was not enough as the US responded with tries from Alev Kelter, when Levi's sister Teagan was in the sin bin, and Alex Sedrick to make it 12 points apiece.
Sedrick herself kicked the vital conversion to seal a famous US bronze in perfect timing for the run-in to the next Olympic Games, on home soil in Los Angeles in 2028.
"I hope it means we get more games in stadiums like this, that we get more money and funding for the women's game," said American stand-out Ilona Maher, the social media star who promotes body positivity and women's health to her millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram.
"We deserve it. We need more girls in the US trying rugby and seeing what it can do for them."
The women's tournament followed a similar three-day competition for the men, which could not have been better scripted as Antoine Dupont led France to victory over defending champions Fiji.
"We always said this is our chance of coming of age for rugby sevens in the Olympics, and it has been, it's been incredible," World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin told reporters Tuesday.
"553,000 spectators in six days. It's been amazing. It's everything we hoped it could be. And hopefully, it's a great platform for the future."