Dubai: Double Women’s World Series champions New Zealand avenged last year’s Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens defeat to Australia with a narrow 19-17 victory over the Wallabies on Friday.
Sarah Goss proved the hero with a late winning try, to complete a stunning comeback over Australia. The Australians had raced ahead to a 17-0 first half lead with two tries from Emma Tonegato either side of a try from Amy Turner, which was converted by Sharni Williams.
But the Kiwis fought back in the second half with two tries from Goss either side of a try from Tyla Nathan-Wong, the first two of which were converted by Nathan-Wong.
This series opening win sets the Kiwis up well for the rest of the six-stage series, where the top four teams at the end of the season qualify to rugby’s Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2016.
New Zealand had earlier beaten Russia 19-17 in the quarter-finals and France 31-10 in the semi-finals, after having finished top of Pool A with wins over China 43-0, USA 24-19 and Russia 29-12.
Meanwhile, Australia beat Fiji 47-0 in the quarter-finals and Canada 29-7 in the semi-finals on Friday, after having finished top of Pool B with wins over South Africa 36-0, France 24-10 and Spain 39-0 on Thursday.
Elsewhere, Canada won the third-place play-off with a 10-5 extra-time win over France. Canada had earlier beaten the USA 36-0 in the cup quarter-finals but lost the semi-final to Australia 29-7.
England won the plate final with a 19-12 extra-time win over Fiji. England lost to France 7-5 in the cup quarter-finals and regressed to the plate semi-finals where they beat Russia 21-19. England had earlier topped Group C with wins over Fiji 26-0, Brazil 29-7 and Canada 17-12.
Brazil stunned South Africa 17-7 in the bowl final. The 2016 Olympic hosts had finished bottom of Group C with defeats to Canada 26-10, England 29-7 and Fiji 21-12 but beat Spain 19-14 in the bowl semi-finals to get this far.
