BlitzBoks and Fiji on song
World Sevens Series leaders South Africa and Fiji were the only sides to maintain 100 percent records during pool play.
They booked their places in the Hong Kong leg of the World Series in style.
Having never won the Hong Kong title the BlitzBoks produced a confident Day Two performance, with Seabelo Senatla picking up a hat-trick – as they defeated France 29-7 – after earlier accounting for Japan 27-0 in front of 38,900 fans at the Hong Kong Stadium.
Neil Powell's side will face Australia in the quarterfinals.
Fiji, who beat Belgium 38-7 and Canada 45-0 on Day Two, await England.
The United States and England, both having already qualified for the quarters, played out a highly entertaining draw in their final Pool D match.
Maka Unafe and Jeff Williams picked up doubles for their respective sides but Mike Friday's men topped the pool on points differential and meet Samoa.
New Zealand fought back from their earlier setback, a surprise 24-all draw with Portugal, with a tenacious 14-5 win over Australia to top Pool B – thanks to two tries from 18-year-old Rieko Ioane and Los Pumas' will be their opponents on day three.
All the Day Two action!
Pool A
(Canada, Samoa, Fiji, Belgium)
Impressive 38-12 first-up winners over Samoa, Fiji kept their title challenge on track with a 45-0 win over Canada and a comprehensive 38-7 defeat of Belgium – with two tries from Vatemo Ravouvou.
Samoa secured second place in the pool recording wins over Belgium 29-5 and Canada 24-19, after Liam Middleton's men defeated a gallant Belgium 28-12 – with the European side making their first appearance on the Series.
Results:
Canada 19-24 Samoa
Fiji 38-7 Belgium
Samoa 29-5 Belgium
Fiji 45-0 Canada
Pool B
(New Zealand, Australia, Portugal, Scotland)
Controlling all the early possession and territory Rieko Ioane scored the only try of the first half, as the All Black Sevens took a 7-0 lead into the break over Australia. Ioane's second gave New Zealand the edge in a tight encounter, before Jesse Parahi crossed for a consolation try for Geraint John's men.
Scotland defeated Portugal 14-12, denying the Portuguese the opportunity to advance to the knockout stage – after they caused the first shock of the tournament with a 24-all draw with New Zealand, after trailing 7-17 at half time and 19-249 with just minutes to play.
David Mateus, Carl Murray and Aderito Esteves starring for the Portuguese as they recorded there first-ever tournament points against the All Black Sevens with Nunu Guedes scoring the last try in the match.
Earlier, New Zealand defeated Scotland 21-7, after former Sevens Players of the Year DJ Forbes and Tim Mikkelson scored for Gordon Tietjens' side.
Australia followed up their 33-5 defeat of Portugal on day one with a dominant 21-5 display over Scotland. Pama Fou and Con Foley crossing for first half tries.
Results:
Australia 21-5 Scotland
New Zealand 24-24 Portugal
Scotland 14-12 Portugal
New Zealand 14-5 Australia
Pool C
(South Africa, Argentina, France, Japan)
After their 0-24 loss at the hands of South Africa on Day One, Argentina looked more composed early against France – racing to a 19-0 half-time lead, with tries to Santiago Alvarez, German Schulz and Alex Muller. Alvarez's second extended the lead to 26-0 before France's lone try to Virimi Vakatawa.
Trailing 0-7 against Japan in their final pool match, Argentina clawed their way to a win scoring three tries to one in the second half through Axel Muller, German Schulz and Rodrigo Etchart.
Having never won the Hong Kong title South Africa produced a confident Day Two performance – with Seabelo Senatla picking up a hat-trick, as they defeated France 29-7.
Earlier the BlitzBoks accounted for Japan 27-0 in front of 38,900 fans at the Hong Kong Stadium.
Results:
South Africa 27-0 Japan
France 5-26 Argentina
South Africa 29-7 France
Argentina 19-14 Japan
Pool D
(United States, England, Kenya, Wales)
With a quarterfinal berth already secured, England and the United States were looking for bragging rights ahead of the quarters.
United States's Perry Baker strolled over for the easiest of tries, after picking the ball up from the back of the ruck to lead 7-0. England hit back immediately through Williams. Both sides traded five-pointers through Unafe and Tom Mitchell to go into the break 14-all. Unafe and Williams picked up their second as the scores were locked at 21-all.
Earlier, Simon Amor's side followed up their first-up 26-19 win over Wales, defeating Kenya 17-7 after leading 10-0 at half-time – through tries to Tom Bowen and James Rodwell. Collins Injera reduced the margin to three just after the break before Phil Burgess crossed for the match winner.
A brace to captain Madison Hughes and hat-trick to Zack Test got the United States off to a flyer on Day Two, defeating Wales 40-12 in a record margin for the United States over Wales. The Eagles got off to an impressive start in contrast to day one where they fought back from 14-0 at half time to beat Kenya 21-14.
Results:
United States 40-12 Wales
England 17-7 Kenya
United States 21-21 England
Kenya 12-19 Wales
HONG KONG INTO KNOCKOUT STAGE OF WORLD SERIES QUALIFIER
Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and Spain hold the advantage going into the knock-out stage after finishing at the top of their respective pools during the World Sevens Series qualifiers. Joining them in the quarterfinals is Brazil, Russia and Zimbabwe after securing second place in their pools.
Uruguay and Korea also qualified for the knock-out stage as the top two third-placed teams from across all three pools. However, both now face daunting tasks up against first and second place qualifiers Spain and Papua New Guinea in the quarters.
Source: @WorldRugby7s
That try as @rugbyportugal draw with @AllBlacks @nz7s – great game at #HK7s! A moment of history in the series pic.twitter.com/IW56YHJPaZ
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) March 28, 2015
Vamos España @Spain7s !!! You can do it and come back in the Elite !! #HK7s pic.twitter.com/0YQDqahObA
— France7s (@France7s) March 28, 2015
