Australia will take bragging rights into their Paris Olympics showdown with the Black Ferns Sevens, after scoring a converted try after fulltime to topple their archrivals 21-19 from the Madrid Grand Final, then claiming the championship crown over France in the final.
Reigning Olympic champions New Zealand claimed world series premiership honours at Singapore last month, reeling off four consecutive tournament wins to defend their title from the Aussies.
In Spain, the NZ women were a little off the pace from the start, after falling to Canada in poolplay and needing a countback to reach the final four.
There, they trailled Australian 7-5 at halftime, but seemed to have the contest under control, with back-to-back tries from captain Risi Pouri-Lane and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe for a 19-7 advantage.
The Aussies closed the margin with a try to Faith Nathan, but left their comeback to the last gasp, with Maddison Levi scoring out wide and Tia Hinds slotting the difficult conversion to steal victory.
The Kiwis gained some consolation, with a 26-14 win over Canada for the bronze medal, but the result will leave a bitter taste, as they prepare to repeat their Olympic success at Tokyo 2020.
"We're definitely happy with the comeback, but we've got to give it to the Canadian girls," said Pouri-Lane. "They came at us yesterday and really showed the growth they've had.
"We've got to keep growing as wall and finding little things we can add to our toolbox.
"We've just got to do the simple things well. We got a bit carried away with over-complicating things, but it's just going back to what we know works and what we can execute well."
Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of their Madrid performance was the off-field presence of captain Sarah Hirini, who has missed this year's world series with a knee injury, but seems on track for a Paris return.
Meanwhile, the NZ men also fell to world series premiership winners Argentina 21-14 in the semi-finals, before losing the third-place playoff to Fiji 17-10. French star Antoine Dupont inspired his team to victory over the South Americans in the final.
Australia 21 Black Ferns Sevens 19 (Paul, Pouri-Lane, Woodman-Wickliffe tries; Pouri-Lane & King conversions)
Black Ferns Sevens 26 (Paul, Setefano, Saili, Miller tries; King 3 conversions) Canada 14
Argentina 21 All Blacks Sevens 14 (Webber, Leo tries; Knewstuff 2 conversions)
Fiji 17 All Blacks Sevens 10 (Leo, Collier tries)
