Australia’s gold medal drought in the women’s sevens world series lives on after Canada overran them 28-19 in the semi-finals of the New Zealand tournament.

The concession of two late tries left Australia facing a match for bronze against France in Hamilton on Sunday while Canada will meet New Zealand in the final.

John Manenti’s team will head into next week’s tournament in Sydney without a title in two years, a worrying record as they seek form six months out from their Olympic Games title defence in Tokyo.

It was a continuation of the final-day blues for Australia, whose pool play form this season has been largely promising before failures in the knockout phase.

They have reached finals in Cape Town and Glendale, USA this season while Canada had their measure in the Dubai semi-finals.

Australia looked set for revenge on the Canadians when Dominique Du Toit ran 60m to put them five points ahead inside the final two minutes.

However Charity Williams burst through an Emma Sykes missed tackle to put the North Americans back in front before Ghislaine Landry crossed after the final hooter.

Australia trailed 14-12 following a first half in which Ellia Green continued her blistering tournament form. She set up captain Sharni Williams for the opening score and later bagged her sixth try of the weekend.

Green completed a memorable hat-trick in Australia’s 19-17 win over the United States earlier on Sunday to round out pool play unbeaten.

New Zealand, who beat France 19-7 in their semi-final, will remain top of the series standings through four of eight rounds, opening the gap on Australia, who are guaranteed to still be second.

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