New Zealand have claimed their fourth tournament victory of the season after defeating Australia 21-17 in Canada. They lost the final, but Australia took a gigantic step to sealing a berth at next year’s Olympics. Not for the first time this season, Australia weren’t able to match New Zealand as they suffered a heartbreaking 21-17 defeat to their trans-Tasman rivals. A blunder from referee Hollie Davidson cruelled any hope of a come-from-behind victory after Ellia Green scored her second with less than a minute left on the clock to reduce the deficit to less than a try. Co-captain Sharni Williams leapt high to tap the ball back from the kick restart, which she did and Australia regained possession 40 metres out from the New Zealand line, but the referee incorrectly ruled the ball knocked on. From the resulting scrum, the Black Ferns kicked the ball out to end the final to seal their fourth tournament win of the season. The New Zealand victory saw them climb to 92 points on the World Series standings and barring a disaster in Biarritz next month they will surely be crowned champions again. Australia’s silver medal meant they put some much needed space between them (74) and fifth placed France (60). USA continued their strong season with a 26-5 demolition of France to take the bronze medal and consolidate their place of second on the standings on 80 points, while Canada is third (78). The top four in the 2018-2019 series automatically qualify for next year’s Tokyo Olympics. Live stream the 2019 Vodafone Super Rugby on KAYO SPORTS. Every game of every round live & anytime in HD and ad-break free during play. Get your 14 day free trial > A huge shot from Green on Niall Williams in the second minute set the tone for the bruising contest in Langford as she shut down an early wave of attack and forced a knock on. She then turned defence into attack, as some quick feet from Emma Tonegato on the fringes got Australia over the advantage line. It was only the entrée to the main course, as Green found space out wide and blitzed New Zealand on the edge to run 75 metres to score. The World Series front-runners were quick to hit back though as captain Sarah Hirini wove her way to the tryline and scored under the posts to allow New Zealand to take a 7-5 lead. A mix up between Williams and Green near their own line put some unnecessary pressure on Australia from the kick restart and soon after they lost the ball at the breakdown and were penalised. In a flash, Niall Williams received a ball back on the inside and scored New Zealand’s second under the posts to extend the lead to 14-5. Caslick then did what she does best, combining with Alicia Quirk to put away Tonegato. But Emma Sykes couldn’t convert the simple chance as Australia trailed 14-10 at the main break. Australia’s hopes of winning their first tournament of the year took a nose dive shortly after, as Mahalia Murphy dropped a simple pass and from the scrum New Zealand took advantage as Tyla Nathan-Wong ran 50 metres to score and open up a 21-10 lead. MORE RUGBY NEWS THAT HURTS: Quade forced from field after sickening collision ONLY THREE SPOTS LOCKED IN: Wallabies World Cup XV ON TOP: Brumbies smash Sunwolves to move clear in Australian conference New Zealand pose with their gold medal along with silver medal winners Australia and bronze medalist team USA in Langford, BC Canada. Source: AFP Short on time and seemingly out of ideas, Caslick then put the ball on the boot and sent it down the field for Green. She was well beaten by her opponent, but won the ball at the breakdown. It seemed as if Australia had burnt their chance of scoring after sending the ball to the right when numbers were out on the left. But somehow a loose ball ended up in the arms of Green who scored her second to set up the grandstand finish. Australia’s heartache was complete shortly after as Davidson ruled knock on and New Zealand won the resulting scrum with time up.<doc-sep>Michaela Blyde made the perfect return from injury for the Black Ferns Sevens this morning in Canada but it was short lived with fears she may have picked up a new issue later in the side's undefeated day. Blyde returned to the black jersey this morning for New Zealand's first match at the Langford Sevens against Russia and she was back to her old scoring ways quickly in emphatic style. The 23-year-old stepped, fended and sprinted her way past four defenders to score a runaway try in the first minute of the match. She finished the game with two tries as the Black Ferns Sevens opened their title defence with a 26-7 win. Blyde then followed that up with another try in the team's next match against China, which they also comfortably won 45-0. But the win came at a cost, with Blyde limping from the field just before half time in some serious discomfort and unable to put any weight on her right foot. She didn't return for the team's final match against rivals England. The final match went down to the wire but a clutch run late in the low-scoring contest from leader Sarah Hirini saw the Kiwi side sneak home with a 12-10 win to finish pool play undefeated.<doc-sep>
The 2019 HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens captains gathered for a photo on Bear Mountain ahead of the penultimate round of the series in Langford this weekend. (HSBC Canada Sevens Media Team) The dozen 2019 HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens captains came together on Bear Mountain in Langford as anticipation for the fifth round of the series at Westhills Stadium grows. This weekend’s penultimate round is key in the race for the title as well as for qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Canada is in a strong position to win. The Canadian women’s sevens team had a gold medal finish against England in Kitakyushu, Japan, putting them in second place amongst the 12 teams. In the lead is New Zealand and third and fourth place teams are USA and Australia, respectively. READ MORE: Canada’s Women’s Rugby Sevens hit home turf in strong position The top four teams at the end of the series will secure their place at the Olympic Games, joining already qualified Japan as the host nation. “Our team set a goal to take one of the qualifying spots,” said Canada head coach John Tait. “I think we’re tracking pretty well toward that.” In a World Rugby news release, Canada’s captain Ghislaine Landry said the team has some good energy after its Kitakyushu win. “It was a tough tournament for six games and to come away with the win was a good demonstration of what we’re capable of doing.” Landry said. “The energy all week has been buzzing. We can feel it in our team and in the community so hopefully we’re going to take that, put it on our backs and carry it forward.” READ MORE: Women’s rugby 7s team primed to play on home turf Canada will face Olympic champions Australia, Ireland and invitational team Brazil in Pool A this weekend. England and defending HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens champions New Zealand will be paired with Russia and China in Pool B. France, USA, Fiji and Spain make up the teams in Pool C. The matches take place at Westhills Stadium in Langford and begin at 10 a.m. on May 11 and at 9 a.m. on May 12. Tickets can be bought at canadasevens.com. There will be a free shuttle to Westhills Stadium from Westshore Mall. More information about the shuttle and the games can be found here. shalu.mehta@goldstreamgazette.com Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter