New Zealand wins back-to-back women's rugby 7s titles

SAINT-DENIS, France -- Stacy Waaka dived into the corner to clinch back-to-back Olympic women's rugby sevens titles for New Zealand with a 19-12 win over Canada on Tuesday in front of more than 60,000 spectators at Stade de France.

The Canadians were coming off upset wins over host France in the quarterfinals and 2016 champion Australia in the semifinals and were playing in the championship match for the first time.

They finished the tournament with an improvement on their bronze in 2016.

The U.S. edged Australia 14-12 to earn bronze for its first Olympic medal in rugby sevens, adding to a big statement for the North American teams four years before the Olympics are staged in Los Angeles.

Quick tries to Chloe Daniels and Alysha Corrigan just before halftime gave the Canadians a surprising 12-7 lead at the break after Risi Pouri-Lane opened the scoring in the final for New Zealand.

But the champions rallied with second-half tries to Michaela Blyde and Waaka to retain the title they won in Tokyo three years ago.

Rugby sevens great Portia Woodman-Wickliffe got a huge cheer when she left the field with her New Zealand team leading midway through the second half. She was on the New Zealand squads that lost the 2016 final to Australia and rebounded to win the title three years ago in Tokyo and is jointly the most successful Olympic rugby sevens player ever with two golds and a silver.

The rugby world axis tilted slightly in the playoff matches, starting with Alex Sedrick's long-range try in the last seconds of the bronze-medal match against Australia.

The Australians were leading 12-7 with seconds remaining and deep in U.S. territory. The ball went to Sedrick and she bumped off two tacklers before racing all the way to the other end to score and spark jubilation for the Americans.

The U.S. women reached the Olympic semifinals for the first time and lost to defending champion New Zealand. That made the playoff for a third a case of winning a medal or going home without.

The Americans rushed onto the field to celebrate the 14-12 victory and Ilona Maher, the social media celebrity of these Games, raised both arms up in triumph.