History keeps repeating for Olympic rugby sevens champions Australia, beaten by arch-rivals New Zealand in the final of the women's world series event in Las Vegas.
The Kiwis were dominant, running in four tries to one in a 28-5 victory on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) in the gold-medal match.
It's become a familiar pattern for defending world series champions Australia since downing New Zealand to claim the Olympic gold in August in Rio.
New Zealand have had their measure in all three events to date on the 2016/17 world series, also beating them 17-5 in the gold-medal game in Dubai and then downing them 19-0 in the bronze-medal game in Sydney.
"We are very disappointed to finish the way we did," said Australia's coach Tim Walsh.
"Credit to New Zealand, they played a detailed, mistake-free game and deserved their victory.
"We have stepped up our game from Sydney and Dubai. I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season has to offer and really finish the season strongly.
"Our destiny is still in our hands, so we'll see how everyone pulls up and look at how we approach the next few tournaments."
The Black Ferns had earlier downed Australia 21-14 to top their pool.
The Australian men's team were beaten 17-14 by world series leaders South Africa in a hard-fought quarter-final.
"We just didn't have the composure to finish the important moments off," said coach Andy Friend.
"Yes we're a young team but we need to make sure that we are continuing to work hard and be better in those big moments."
The Australians had earlier been beaten by Fiji in their last pool match.
