Olympic champions New Zealand have been toppled 21-17 by archrivals Australia after the siren in the Langford Sevens final - the Kiwis' first foray back onto the world series since the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
The result saw the Aussies clinch the series championship, with four victories from the five tournament contested this season.
The trans-Tasman rivals seemed destined to meet in the event finale, with only a draw against Fiji in their final pool game giving the Tokyo gold-medallists reason to pause.
Australia struck first, with Maddison Levi fending off Alena Saili and speeding away to score under the posts.
Saili made up for her defensive lapse, latching onto a pinpoint pass from captain Sarah Hirini and sprinting 50 metres to score in the corner. The pair combined again before halftime, when Saili dashed towards the right corner and when she was tackled metres short, Australia failed to secure the loose ball and Hirini pounced to put her team ahead 10-7.
From the second-half kickoff, Australia stole the ball in front of the NZ posts and Charlotte Caslick stormed over to retake the advantage.
New Zealand seemed to have the game under control, when Michaela Blyde powered through three would-be tacklers to put them ahead, and Tyler Nathan-Wong bounced the sideline conversion off the crossbar for the extra points.
But with seconds left on the clock, the Kiwis turned the ball over near the tryline and the Aussies went the length of the field, before replacement Lily Dick produced the matchwinner.
Earlier, veteran speedster Portia Woodman became the first woman to notch 200 tries on the circuit, as her team cruised into the semi-finals with a 38-0 victory over hosts Canada. Woodman, 30, opened the scoring to achieve her milestone and added another soon after.
"Everybody at the stadium saw how excited I was,'' Woodman said. "It was really awesome to get in my first tournament back after four years.''
In the semis, the Ferns accounted for Tokyo Olympic silver medallists France 26-14, with Blyde scoring a try double.
The Black Ferns Sevens returned to the world series for the first time since before COVID-19, and for the first time as the reigning Olympic gold medallists, but injury has kept Woodman off the circuit since 2018.
