"They're clinical, they take their opportunities when they're given and their defence is awesome. They're putting teams under pressure and forcing them into errors. You can't fault them there."

In consolatory news for Australia, the second-place finish elevates them to equal-third with Canada on the World Series ladder at the halfway point in this crucial Olympic qualifying series. New Zealand are well out in front, with the USA in second spot.

The tournament also established young guns Emma Sykes, Lily Dick and Sariah Paki as genuine hopes for next season. Sykes, just 20 years old, scored both of Australia's tries, the last of which was a superb individual effort. Dick and Paki are 19 and 18 years old respectively.

Stacey Waaka scored first for the Black Ferns but the points did not come without controversy after what appeared to be a knock-on.  The conversion hit the uprights and New Zealand

Aussie playmaker Evania Pelite looked certain to score but some poor communication saw her pulled up and unable to get the offload away.

Young gun Emma Sykes put Australia on the board with a pinpoint chip kick. The 20-year-old scooped up the ball and escaped a defender to score, but couldn't convert, leaving the scores locked up at 5-5.

Disaster struck next when Williams was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle. The Black Ferns scored twice before the half was out, Shakira Baker and Michaela Blyde scoring and a conversion making it 17-5.

"I think we're just giving the Kiwis too much ball," injured lynchpin Emilee Cherry told Fox Sports at the break. "They like to play that offload game, if we can wrap the ball, get them to ground, it's going to go to our favour. But at the moment they're controlling all the play."

Blyde scored her second after the break before Australia's Sykes used superb decision-making, footwork and pace to score from a quick-tap but missed the conversion again to leave the hosts trailing 24-10.

Waaka bagged her second to make it 29-10 with 90 seconds left on the clock and Blyde brought up her hat-trick as the seconds slipped away, sending her team mates off 34-10 title winners.

For New Zealand, it is another step on their way to avenging their 2016 loss to Australia in the gold medal match at the Rio Olympics.

For Australia, who have struggled to deal with injuries to their top line players – many of whom played in that match – Sydney could be a turning point, if they push on.

It was the Rio gold medallists' first World Series final since Paris in April last year. Their 2018-19 World Series campaign had a rocky start, with injuries to key players Shannon Parry, Emma Tonegato and Caslick, and a disappointing fifth-place finish in the first tournament in Colorado late last year.

They managed third in Dubai in December to keep them inside the top four and will look to climb higher in the next leg in Japan in April.

"We've been working bloody hard at the things we didn't do so well in those earlier tournaments and the best thing from that performance is that we still have a lot of work to do and a lot of improvement [to make], which is exciting," Alicia Quirk said after their semi-final win over Ireland.

"We've got a young group. Lily Dick and Sariah Paki are 17, 18 years old, and starting in these big games, their second tournaments. There's so much growth in our squad."