SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Canada rallied from a 12-0 deficit to upset world sevens series champion Australia 21-12 on Tuesday and advance to an Olympic women’s rugby final against defending champion New Zealand.
The New Zealanders beat the United States 24-12 in the first semifinal, giving them an extra half-hour to recover and prepare for the night final.
New Zealand has reached the final at every Olympic tournament since rugby sevens was added to the program at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. It lost that final to Australia but then went on a dominating run to the title in Tokyo.
The U.S. team is still in medal contention, with bronze up for grabs against Australia.
Alev Kelter scored the opening try for the U.S. but New Zealand responded for a 7-5 lead when Stacy Waaka scored the first of her two tries.
After having a try disallowed just before halftime, Waaka scored again to extend the lead to 12-5 when she was given too much room to move out wide.
Chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” started slowly in a break in play but it quieted quickly when Michaele Blyde crossed for the first of her two tries to give the New Zealanders a 19-5 lead.
Blyde fended off Ariana Ramsey to score in the right corner before the Americans rallied with a late try when Kristi Kirshe made an angled run, broke two tackles and sprinted away to score.
Australian flyer Levi Maddison scored in the opening minute to extend her Olympic tournament record to 12 tries. And when Sariah Paki scored three minutes later, an Australia-New Zealand final appeared to be on the cards.
But Charity Williams swooped on a chance in first-half stoppage time and ran almost three-quarters of the field to touch down under the posts and the momentum swung wildly.
The Canadians took a 14-12 lead with about four minutes remaining when Asia Hogan-Rochester was left unmarked out wide, and they sealed the upset when Piper Logan darted from the scrumbase, stepped inside a defender and crashed over to score in the tackle of Teagan Levi.
As the Canadian players jubilantly hugged and celebrated on the field, a man high up in the Stade de France stands unfurled his maple leaf flag and screamed: “Go Canada.”
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
