BlitzBokke run riot on Gold Coast
New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and South Africa all impressed on the opening day of the Gold Coast Sevens.
They maintained their 100 percent records in Round One of the 2014/15 IRB Sevens World Series.
Defending Series and Gold Coast champions New Zealand scored more than 100 points – against France, Japan and Samoa.
They will face England in the quarterfinals.
Argentina beat England, the United States and Canada to set up a match with Samoa.
Australia lost 12-35 to Fiji in the Pool C decider in coach Geraint John's first World Series event in charge of the hosts, as Ben Ryan's side, who won the Oceania Sevens last week, conceded just 19 points in their three matches, and will play Wales on day two.
In the fourth and final quarterfinal South Africa, who had Seabelo Senatla to thank four for tries in their wins over Kenya, Wales and American Samoa, await the hosts.
This included one of two hat-tricks in the decisive all-African encounter with Kenya – where Senatla scored three first-half tries and Steven Hunt three of their four second-half five-pointers.
Cup quarterfinals:
New Zealand v England
Fiji v Wales
Argentina v Samoa
South Africa v Australia
Bowl quarterfinals:
France v Canada
Scotland v American Samoa
United States v Japan
Kenya v Portugal
We bring you all the Day One action!
Pool A
(New Zealand, France, Samoa, Japan)
Defending champions New Zealand came from behind to beat Samoa 28-17 and go through pool play undefeated.
Tries to Scott Curry and Gillies Kaka helped the All Blacks Sevens to a 14-12 lead at the break, but they fell behind shortly after the restart when Tofatuimoana Solia dotted down.
However, further five-pointers to Tim Mikkelson and Sherwin Stowers got the New Zealanders home.
Their earlier pool matches resulted in a 36-7 win over France and a nine-try 59-0 romp over Japan.
New Zealand's DJ Forbes, Scott Curry and Sam Dickson scored two tries apiece in their side's nine-try 59-0 victory over Japan and the defending Gold Coast champions earlier beat France 36-7 with Dickson scoring his first brace of the day.
France got off to an early lead in their match against Samoa, but Samoa surged back strong in the second half and produced a 19-12 win thanks to two tries from Samoa Toloa.
Japan also scored first against Samoa, but it was the Islanders who came out on top with a 40-14 victory with Tom Iosefo scoring a hat-trick. Les Bleus ensured they finished third in the pool by beating Japan 33-14.
Results:
Samoa 40-14 Japan
New Zealand 36-7 France
Samoa 19-12 France
New Zealand 59-0 Japan
New Zealand 28-17 Samoa
France 33-14 Japan
Pool B
(South Africa, Wales, Kenya, American Samoa)
South Africa's Seabelo Senatla scored three first-half tries and Steven Hunt three after the break as the BlitzBokke beat Kenya 45-0 to top Pool B.
Earlier, Senatla helped his side in a tightly-contested 19-12 victory over Wales, after scoring one try and demonstrating impressive speed as he prevented an early try from Will Harries.
Neil Powell's Commonwealth Games' gold medallists then defeated American Samoa, with debutant Ruhan Nel helping himself to a hat-trick before Senatla added his own.
"A win is a win and we took all three of them today [Saturday], but we had a very slow start," said South Africa captain Frankie Horne.
"We're just lucky we got all three in our pool and we're hoping we can take it into tomorrow [Sunday]. It's all about consistency and taking it step-by-step."
Wales joined South Africa in the quarterfinals after beating Kenya 24-19 and American Samoa, appearing in their first-ever Gold Coast Sevens, 36-0 with Tom Williams scoring three of their tries.
Results:
Kenya 42-0 American Samoa
South Africa 19-12 Wales
Kenya 19-24 Wales
South Africa 48-0 American Samoa
South Africa 45-0 Kenya
Wales 36-0 American Samoa
Pool C
(Fiji, Australia, Scotland, Portugal)
Fiji defeated Australia 35-12 to end day one with a 100 percent record in the final match of day one at the Cbus Super Stadium with two tries from Semi Kunitani.
Earlier, the Islanders proved too strong for Scotland, winning 40-7 in their first match thanks to 19 points from captain Osea Kolinisau before Apisalome Waqatabu scored a hat-trick in their match with Portugal.
"There's some serious teams out there from now on so we've got to be on the money," said Fiji coach Ben Ryan.
Hosts Australia, who qualified for the Cup quarterfinals in second behind Fiji, left Portugal scoreless in their match with a convincing 29-0 win which featured five tries including one from captain Ed Jenkins before they beat Scotland 24-14 thanks to two tries from Pama Fou.
Aderito Esteves scored a dramatic last-minute try to give Portugal a 21-21 draw with Scotland, but they still finished fourth in Pool C.
Results:
Australia 29-0 Portugal
Fiji 40-7 Scotland
Australia 24-14 Scotland
Fiji 38-0 Portugal
Fiji 35-12 Australia
Scotland 21-21 Portugal
Pool D
(England, Argentina, Canada, United States)
Santiago Gomez Cora's Argentina booked their place in the Cup quarterfinals with a 100 percent record when Santiago Cordero rounded off a 24-12 victory over Mike Friday's United States.
Cordero earlier scored two tries in a 14-12 win over Canada after Rodrigo Etchart scored a try on his debut as Los Pumas beat England 21-19.
Despite United States' Zack Test adding his fourth try of the day against England following a hat-trick against Canada, Simon Amor's side bounced back from defeat to Argentina to win 14-7 against Mike Friday's side. Dan Norton then scored his third try of the day in a 19-12 win against Canada to secure their place in the quarterfinals as Pool D runners-up.
"The whole day is up for grabs," said England captain Phil Burgess.
"We've defended well in the last two games and showed some good heart. There are some tired bodies now and we will be glad of the rest this evening. We will come back fresh ready for tomorrow [Sunday] morning."
Results:
Argentina 26-12 United States
Canada 12-14 Argentina
England 14-7 United States
Canada 15-17 United States
England 19-21 Argentina
England 19-12 Canada
Zack Test scores 100th try for United States
