Black Ferns Sevens go down fighting in enthralling Canada final

The Black Ferns Sevens have fallen one win short of claiming a title on their return to the World Series, beaten 21-17 by Australia in a thrilling final in Canada.

The tournament in Langford was the first for the Olympic champion Black Ferns on the World Series for more than two years, due to the pandemic.

Australia scored first in the final to take a 7-0 lead, but the Black Ferns struck back twice through Alena Saili and captain Sarah Hirini to take a 10-7 advantage into the halftime break.

Australia, who have already wrapped up the overall World Series title, were next to score, striking early in the second half to retake the lead 14-10.

That advantage was short lived with Michaela Blyde soon dotting down for New Zealand shortly to put the Black Ferns back in front, 17-14, with two minutes remaining.

The Black Ferns looked like they were going to hold on and claim the title, but a minute and a half after the fulltime siren Australia broke the New Zealand defence and scored the matchwinner under the posts.

The try was converted to give Australia a close fought 21-17 victory.

Earlier, Portia Woodman made history as the Black Ferns stormed their way into the final four.

Woodman became the first player to score 200 tries after bagging two in New Zealand’s 38-0 quarterfinal thrashing of hosts Canada in Langford.

The 30-year-old’s new total of 201 tries left her 46 clear of the next best try-scorer, Canadian Bianca Farrell.

The brace also took her past 1000 total points in the series, putting her third on that all-time list behind second-placed team-mate Tyla Nathan-Wong and overall leader, Canada’s Ghislaine Landry.

In the semi-finals, New Zealand claimed a come-from-behind 26-14 win over France.

Trailing 14-7 at halfitime, the Olympic champions scored three second half tries to beat the same team they overcame in last year’s Olympic final in Tokyo.

Australia easily accounted for Ireland 26-5 in the other semi-final.

– RNZ