Rugby sevens superstar Maddison Levi has met her match in the shape of rising American ace Nia Toliver as Australia's women crashed out in the semi-finals of the Cape Town world series event.
In a rematch of their Olympic bronze-medal game won surprisingly by the USA back in August, Australia looked well on course to gain revenge as world player of the year Levi pulled off a superb steal-and-run try to put them 19-7 ahead in the second half of Sunday's last-four clash.
But the powerhouse Toliver, one of the rising stars of the circuit, then took over with an astounding individual tour de force.
First, she delivered a superb solo try to give the Americans hope, before bulldozing through to earn the turnover that set up Alyssa Porter's score which left the US just two points behind.
Not finished, Toliver then earned the penalty which helped set up one final US attack which ended with her brushing off three challenges, including one from Levi, as she charged through and cheered before touching down for her second try with just 11 seconds on the clock, the Americans finally emerging triumphant 24-19.
It was the end of the Australians' hopes of back-to-back world series triumphs following their win in the Dubai Sevens the previous week, and their disappointment was compounded when they had to settle for fourth place, losing their bronze-medal match with France 17-14, despite two more tries for Levi.
The 22-year-old has now taken her tally to a series-leading 21 scores after just two tournaments following her record-breaking 15 in Dubai.
But the Aussies surrendered their overall lead in the series after Olympic champions New Zealand, who'd lost to them in the Dubai final, defeated the US 26-12 in the Cape Town final, despite another brilliant try from Toliver.
Four tries from Jorja Miller, Jazmin Felix-Hotham, Kelsey Teneti and Dhys Faleafaga were enough for the Black Ferns to prevail comfortably, with captain Sarah Hirini left smiling about regaining the top spot: “We're going home with some goodies for Christmas.”
Tim Walsh, coach of Australia's women's team, admitted: "We don’t have a good track record playing in third and fourth play-off matches and although it is rare we are playing in them, I will need to look at how we prepare and rectify how we perform in these matches.
"But the two weeks on tour have been excellent for the squad.
"We have blooded four debutants, had a try-scoring record, a season-opening series win, leadership experience, on and off-field growth and plenty of memorable moments."
He said the side were looking forward to the third leg of the series to be played in Perth in January.
Australia's men, who lost twice on the opening day, ended up with two wins on Sunday, 12-7 over Ireland and 19-12 over USA, to finish ninth overall in the tournament, as the South African hosts celebrated a victory for their 'Blitzboks', who defeated Olympic champs France 26-14 in the final.
It was the first time since 2015 that South Africa had won their home event in the world series.
