Facing surprise opponent Canada, New Zealand defended their Olympic gold medal in women's rugby.
The Canadians were fresh off an upset over Australia in the semifinals, but New Zealand would not suffer the same fate as their neighbors. Star Michaela Blyde led the offensive effort for New Zealand, scoring the go-ahead try before Stacey Waaka sealed the 19-12 win.
The gold medal is New Zealand's first medal of the games. The Black Ferns also became the first team to score over 200 points in a single Olympics, scoring 212 across their six matches in Paris — a dominant performance.
“In Tokyo we didn’t reach our full potential, we scraped through some games," veteran Tyla King said. "But here we absolutely put on a show from day one to the very end. We did it for the crowd that was here, for the families back home, for the whole country."
New Zealand struck blood first in the gold medal match, as Blyde shot off a long run before Risealeaana Pouri-Lane juked a defender and easily jogged into the try. New Zealand legend Portia Woodman was sent off for an unsafe tackle on Charity Williams. Canada couldn’t immediately convert on the man advantage, but Canada caught the Black Ferns off guard when they chose to quick tap off a penalty instead of kicking into touch. Chloe Daniels exploited the space created by the extra man and ran into the try zone.
As time expired, New Zealand chose to continue play in stoppage time. Alysha Corrigan pick pocketed a dangerous pass by Sarah Hirini to put the Canadians up by 5 at the half.
Early in the second, Blyde, the former back-to-back Rugby 7s Player of the Year, showed why she leads the Black Ferns in scoring at the 2024 Games and juked a defender to find the back of the try and returned the lead to New Zealand.
With two-and-a-half minutes remaining, Hirini broke through the line and the ball swung down the line to Waaka, who scored the insurance try for New Zealand.
New Zealand is the first country to win two gold medals in women’s rugby sevens. In what was likely the rugby great’s last international match, Woodman goes out on top.
The New Zealand rugby great spoke after the match about what it meant to finish her sevens career with Olympic gold. “I’m so grateful for the opportunities that I have taken," she said. "The people who I have around me have been so special — my wife, my daughter, my mum and dad. I’m just so grateful.”
Perhaps her teammates knew too what going out on top would mean for her and others looking at retirement, “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," Pouri-Lane said after the match.
The Canadians surpassed expectations to claim the silver, their best finish in an Olympic tournament. After the match, Alysha Corrigan put it into perspective just how much Canada surpassed expectations. “Words can’t describe how proud I am of this group. Last year we finished ninth (in the world series). We went back knowing we had a lot of work to do. So it feels pretty good to be in this place."
Placement matches: Great Britain vs. Ireland & France vs. China
The 5th-8th placement matches occurred before the bronze and gold medal matches.
Ireland concluded its first Olympic tournament against Great Britain in the 7th-8th place match, but the Brits salvaged their disappointing tournament with a 28-12 win.
Great Britain looked to start strong after their awful last-minute loss to China and they did exactly that with four tries in the first half. Megan Jones scored twice in the frame. The second half was more of the same when Heather Cowell extended their lead to 28-5. Ireland’s Claire Boles would tally the last try for a 28-12 final.
Great Britain finished 7th, its lowest placement ever at an Olympic Games.
The other placement match saw two teams with totally different outlooks on the 5th-6th placement match. France was disappointed to not be contending for a medal, while a 5th- or 6th-place finish for China was better than expected for the squad.
France finally broke through when Yolaine Yengo took advantage of a gap in the Chinese defense to put France up 7-0 at the half as the two teams looked tired from their three full days of rugby. The teams exchanged tries in the second half, but Chloe Pelle scored the final try of the match in what she has said will be her last match of her international career.
France earned a 21-7 win and ended its tournament on a high note.
Final Standings: Women's Rugby
- New Zealand
- Canada
- United States
- Australia
- France
- China
- Great Britain
- Ireland
- Japan
- Brazil
- South Africa
- Fiji