Olympic Games: Australia rugby sevens stars break down in tears after being STUNNED by Canada as Paris favourites crash out in semi-final boilover

There were tears aplenty in the Paris sunshine for Australia's rugby sevens ladies after they were stunned b Canada at the Olympic Games.

The Aussies looked impossible to stop in France having steamrolled their opposition leading up to Tuesday's semi-final against the Canadians.

And they looked set to ease through to the final after Madison Levi opened the scoring with her first touch of the game, before they added their second try just moments later.

But a long-range try from Charity Williams on the stroke of halftime shocked Tim Walsh's side, who conceded again after errors from the restart and then watched in horror as Piper Logan darted from the scrum to seal an incredible Games upset.

Canada then held possession for the final two minutes to continue their dream run, after knocking off the hosts France in a quarter-final upset the previous night.

The Rio gold medallists Australia had won the world series final in Spain two months ago and were seemingly on track for an inevitable showdown with defending champions New Zealand for a second gold.

Instead they'll face the United States for bronze, with the shell-shocked Australians crouching to their haunches after the final siren on a stinking hot day in Paris wondering how it went so wrong.

A number of Australian players broke down in tears as the reality of their elimination dawned on them. They will have to settle for the bronze medal match against the US later on Tuesday evening local time.  

'I guess obviously we work so hard for it and to come so close,' Levi told Eurosport. 

'We didn't put our best foot out there we played with our heart and unfortunately at the end of the day we couldn't get the result we wanted.'

When congratulated for scoring yet another try, a candid Levi said:  'It's awesome but at the end of the day it's gutting to walk off without that gold medal. When you're not getting the team result, it doesn't really matter.'

Teammate Charlotte Caslick said: 'There is that extra pressure and expectation that we were carrying. 

Canada are a really good side but I guess we did it to ourselves. Hopefully we can finish off the tournament on a high.'

More to follow.