Australia have taken their first steps on a long road to Rio 2016 Olympic glory with Friday’s emphatic Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens triumph, according to captain Shannon Parry.

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Tim Walsh’s side were the class of the field at the opening 2015-16 HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series event, a second-half blitz against Russia taking them to a deserved 31-12 final win and exorcising the pain of last year’s last-gasp loss to rivals New Zealand.

The Pearls are among the favourites as the limited-players discipline prepares for its bow at next summer’s Games and the 26-year-old forward insisted her side were aiming for a gold medal.

She said: “We have put in a lot of hard work in Australia since June and it is great to get the reward. It is always nice to start off with a win. But it is a very, very long HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series to go and then there is Rio.

“Everyone is chasing an Olympic medal there and we are not afraid to say it. We are going there for the gold medal.”

New Zealand built on their 2014-15 victory in Dubai to claim the overall Sevens Series crown. But they suffered a number of shocks this time around, falling to an opening 33-7 reversal to Russia on Thursday in the pool stage and being dumped into the Plate yesterday thanks to Ellia Green’s deciding try in the 15-12 quarter-final loss to Australia.

They emerged with silverware in that competition thanks to Gayle Broughton’s sudden-death, extratime score in the 24-19 triumph against Canada.

“The pleasing thing is that the two teams we lost to made the final,” Black Ferns boss Sean Horan said. “We tried a lot of things, as in the end of the day there is no better place to implement some key learnings.”

Added time was also required in the Bronzefinal during a tense contest between France and 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup winners England. The English side came away with third spot at The Sevens as Heather Fisher dotted down in the corner.