By beating New Zealand 24-17, Australia confirmed their status as the best team in the world. The Kiwis had started well in the match with Kayla McAlister going over for maximum points and for a while looked more able to defend the threat coming from the other half.
That was until just before the break, when the tournament’s top scorer, Portia Woodman was sin-binned. Australia capitalised and went over the line for a try, with Tonegato scoring.
The second period, see Australia pull away as Caslick found the line and the Gold medal was in sight before New Zealand summoned a resurgence. With Woodman and McAlister both pulling the scoreline back it was too little too late, as Australia took the first ever Rugby 7s gold medal.
Australian coach, Tim Walsh said after “It was really well deserved and I’m so happy for the girls. We knew that if we performed we were going to win and they performed.”
Great Britain failed in their quest for a medal when they lost to Canada 33-10 for bronze.
