The Black Ferns Sevens have fought back to beat Canada 19-12 to defend their Olympic gold and hand New Zealand a first medal of the Paris Games.
Trailing 12-7 at halftime, the Tokyo champions responded by scoring unanswered tries to veterans Michaela Blyde and Stacey Waaka to secure victory this morning (NZ time).
In scenes reminiscent of three years ago, the players leapt with delight at the full-time whistle while the Canadians were disappointed at the end of a highly-competitive campaign.
Risi Pouri-Lane opened the scoring after New Zealand dominated the early stages.
Canada responded with tries to Chloe Daniels and Alysha Corrigan - the latter off an intercept pass thrown by Sarah Hirini - to take a 12-7 lead into the interval.
New Zealand regained the initiative when veteran Blyde used footwork and acceleration to, score with Tyla King's conversion putting them two points in front.
The Black Ferns Sevens struck a key blow when Waaka finished a long-range try with just two minutes remaining.
It was a far tighter contest than when the teams met in pool play on Monday, when New Zealand romped to a 33-7 win.
It was the last match for New Zealand rugby great Woodman-Wickliffe, who said she would retire from the international game after the Paris tournament.
It was also the last sevens international for long-serving playmaker King who, like Woodman-Wickliffe, was part of the silver medal at the Rio games and the gold medal winning Olympic triumph in Tokyo three years ago.
Earlier, New Zealand staved off the United States 24-12 in the semi-finals - helped by two tries to Waaka - before Canada pulled off a major upset by beating leading Rio champions and leading medal contenders Australia 21-12.
Australia finished medal-less after being shocked for a second time, going down 14-12 to the US.
