A distraught Australian women’s rugby sevens side missed out on a medal after letting slip a lead against the USA in the bronze medal match after time had expired, going down 14-12.

The Australians were heavily favoured after a strong start to the tournament, and were up 12-7 with seconds to go at the Stade De France. But the USA’s Alex Sedrick broke through two tackles from tiring Australian defenders, and raced more than 90m to score under the posts.

Her conversion secured the victory, as the Australians fell to the ground in despair. Captain Charlotte Caslick said, holding back tears afterwards, that “it sucks”.

“We gave it everything, we played our hearts out, I think that’s the beauty of sevens and sports, it’s how you play it. It’s a game of moments and there’s probably a few things we would have loved to do differently, but we can’t take that back so I’m just really proud of the girls,” she said.

“We more than anyone want to come home with a medal, we’re the ones that train every day, that have these feelings, so we’re disappointed, but like I said, I’m proud of the girls, they gave it everything and that’s all you can ask for.”

The devastating scenes played out minutes before an entertaining final, won 19-12 by New Zealand over Canada, handing the Black Ferns Sevens back-to-back Olympic gold medals.

Australia’s upset loss to the US follows another surprise defeat in the semi-final hours before, when they went down 21-12 to Canada, despite leading 12-0 late in the first half.

“The first game this afternoon we let Canada back into the game, and we didn’t control possession at all in the second half,” Caslick said. “I think we had the ball for five seconds or something. You can’t win games without the ball, to Canada’s credit they just kept fighting to the end and USA just did the same. It is what it is.”

As in the semi, the Australians started the better side, and Maddi Levi crossed in the first minute to give her team an early lead.

But the favourites were not playing with the fluency they showed in their pool stage and quarter-final victories, and the momentum swung towards the USA when Teagan Levi was handed a yellow card for high contact midway through the first half.

The Americans, including powerful star Ilona Maher, rallied back. They forced an error from the Australians in their in-goal, and from the ensuing scrum Alex Kelter scored to tie the game at half-time.

The second half was tightly contested. But when substitute Sharni Smale found the tournament’s top-scorer Maddi Levi, who broke a tackle and crossed in the right corner, the game looked like Australia’s with barely more than a minute left.

And the team in yellow had the US right where they wanted in the dying stages. The Americans held the ball but were pinned on their line, and would have to travel the length of the field to score.

It seemed an all-but-impossible task, but Sedrick answered the call. She kept her feet despite Teagan Levi’s tackle, and scurried out of the mass of bodies all the way up the other end, securing her country’s first medal in either men’s or women’s rugby sevens.