The Rugby Sevens World Cup were held in Dubai from 5-7 March 2009.

The Australian Women’s Sevens team, who defeated the tournament’s top seeds England 17-10 in the quarter finals and South Africa 19-10 in the semi finals, went to sudden death extra time in the deciding final against New Zealand, after the trans-Tasman rivals were locked 10-all at the end of regulation time.

Shelly Matcham made the decisive Golden Point strike when pushing out of two tackles to cross in the right corner and trigger joyous celebrations from the Australian side.

“This is so awesome,” Matcham said. “I only came on to the field 90 seconds before the end of regulation time as a replacement. To score the winning try in extra time, it’s the sort of thing you only dream about.

“I called for the ball because I could see we had an overlap and having fresh legs I thought I could beat the defence on the outside. As it turned out, I had to step back inside, got tackled but wasn’t held and dived over. To be honest, I don’t even remember the referee blowing the whistle for the try. All I remember is my teammates jumping on me.”

Cheryl Soon, the captain of the Australian Women’s Sevens team and one of our nations most decorated female Rugby players, was overwhelmed by her teams’ victory.

“This is unbelievable,” said Soon before lifting the IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens trophy. “Words can’t describe this moment. We made it happen, we believed in ourselves, and we’ve made history,” Soon said.

“I’m just so happy, so excited. I’m elated.”

Australia’s win over New Zealand was not their first. At the Oceania qualifier for the World Cup, Australia defeated the Kiwi’s on two occasions, which was a momentous milestone because Australia had never beaten them before.

Rugby World Cup Sevens Final

Australia 15 (Nicole Beck, Debby Hodgkinson, Shelly Matcham tries) def

New Zealand 10