Australia had started to find holes in the New Zealand defence and Pelite and then speedster Green benefited from the extra space to give the women in green and gold a 17-5 lead just after the break.
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RIO DE JANEIRO Australia became the first Olympic champions in women’s rugby sevens when they ran out convincing 24-17 winners over trans-Tasman neighbours New Zealand in the gold medal final at the Deodoro Stadium in Rio on Monday. Two minutes later, Jessica Javelet beat several French defenders down the sideline for a try.
Katy McLean was sin-binned for holding Woodman back as she chased a kicked ball toward the in-goal and Amy Wilson Hardy was yellow-carded soon after for tackling Ruby Tui in the air.
Down a player, New Zealand conceded just before half-time when Tonegato scored her seventh try of the tournament.
She now has a tournament-leading nine tries with one game to go. Emma Tonegato and Evania Pelite were also on the scoresheet.
Woodman did finally weave her way over to score under the posts but the hooter had sounded and Australia were already well into their celebrations when Tyla Nathan-Wong took the conversion. By the end of an eventful Sunday, though, the semifinal pairings reflected the status quo in women’s sevens with the top four teams in the world series vying for medals. But the New Zealanders all along said they were targeting all their preparations to peak in Rio de Janeiro, with rugby returning to the Olympics for the first time since a 15-a-side tournament in 1924.
Canada convincingly won the bronze medal by defeating Great Britain 33-10.
Earlier on Monday, the USA women defeated Fiji, 12-7, with actor Matthew McConaughey in attendance.
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France went into halftime leading 5-0, but the US had all of the momentum after returning to the pitch. Alev Kelter, Jessica Javelet and Joanne Fa’avesi scored tries for the U.S.
