Due to this, the Canadians found space on the left-hand side of the pitch, scoring the first try of the game.  Canada were up 5-0 in the 2‘ minute.

Cherry was replaced by Shannon Parry, after being pulled for a head injury assessment. 

The home crowd cheered on their team, as the Aussies tried to move forwards against relentless Canadian pressure. After a turnover, Canada were on the attack again.  However, a grubber kick by Canada towards the Australian try line was picked up by Ellia Greene.

A penalty though resulted in Canada regaining the ball.  A disciplined Australian defence tried to contain their northern rivals.  However, after several phases captain Ghislaine Landry received the ball off an offload and scored Canada’s second try.  After the conversion, the Canadians were up 12-0 with one minute left in the first half.

The Aussies looked as if they were going to put points on the board before the half ended.  A smart pass from Caslick to Tonegato resulted in the Aussies significantly gaining ground, entering the Canadian half.  A second pass from Caslick to Tonegato looked like it would result in a try.  However, the Aussies lost the ball after Tonegato tried to offload the ball back to Caslick.  To make matters worse, captain Sharni Williams received a yellow for hair pulling.

The second half started with the Canadians gaining the ball.  Facing only six Aussie players due to the yellow, Canadian Bianca Farella, the current rugby sevens number two points try scorer and joint most capped player, found a gap and ran in for Canada’s third try.  The conversion put the Canadians up 19-0 at the 9’minute.

Canada then quickly followed this with another successive try in the 10’ minute, this time by Keyara Wardley.  The scoreline moved to 24-0 in Canada’s favour.

The Aussies did not give up though.  Facing Canada’s physical pressure, they tried to push forward, sometimes barreling into their Canadian opponents as Ellia Green did.  Australia gained ground in successive phases.

However, after Canada regained possession and Keyara Wardley scored her second of the day after a good run. This put the Canadians up 29-0 with only two minutes remaining in the second half.

In the final minute of the match, Karen Paquin scored a fifth try for Canada, putting the home nations firmly out of first place final contention.  The game ended 34-0 to Canada.

Bronze Medal Match: Australia v France

A loss to New Zealand in their semi-final sent France to face Australia in the bronze medal match, a second match-up between the two nations that day. 

The field looked significantly different then it had in the early morning after several men’s matches had been playing on it in the pouring rain prior to the match.

This rain developed into thunder and lightning which pushed back the start time.  After a half-hour delay due to lightning, the Australians came out with a clear determination to win. It turned into a physically brutal match, with several players finishing with visible facial injuries.

Australia showed their conviction with two quick back to back tries.  After getting the ball off the kickoff, Australia passed it from right to left.  Ellia Green caught it on the wing and ran it from Australia’s 22-metre line all the way to a try.  She then kicked a conversion to make the scoreline 7-0 in the first minute of the game.