Rugby sevens: Black Ferns Sevens lose to USA in final event

The United States have upstaged New Zealand in the final event of the women's world sevens series in France.

The USA won its first sevens title in Biarritz, beating the Black Ferns Sevens 26-10 in the final.

The Americans led 19-5 at halftime and scored three tries to two.

New Zealand had already clinched the overall series title with the US finishing second overall.

"This is a quality USA team and the few basic errors we made proved very costly. I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt but we've now got to celebrate a World Series win which was the goal of ours from the start of the season," New Zealand captain Sarah Hirini said.

"USA are one of our rivals but the top six teams on the series are tough at any time. They've been there or thereabouts this season so they deserve a Cup title. They played their hearts out this weekend.

"It's been an awesome 12 months. It's been challenging at times as we've been through a lot of adversity back home but we've used most of the girls on our roster and that's a huge testament to those girls. We're pretty happy to be bringing home a series title – our fifth one in seven years."