Fiji, Samoa and NZ all unbeaten

Defending champions New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa all sailed through the pool stages of the Hong Kong leg of the IRB World Sevens Series unbeaten on Day Two.

The top three are joined by South Africa, Australia and England as the three runners-up in the pool round, while Wales and Argentina also sneak into the quarterfinals on points difference ahead of Scotland.

This year in Hong Kong there are two 12-team competitions, which take place side by side.

Competition One, for the Cup, is between the current 12 ‘core teams’ in the World Series. The pool winners, pool runners-up and two best third-place finishers will go through to the Cup quarterfinals. The losers of the Cup quarter finals will go through to the Plate semifinals; the four not involved in the Cup quarterfinals will go straight to the Bowl semifinals.

In Competition Two 12 teams from across the six IRB regions, three of whom – the two finalists and the winner of the third/fourth place play-off – will secure core team status and join the 12 existing core teams at each round of the 2012/13 Sevens World Series.

We bring you all the action from the main 12-team Cup competition!

Pool A:
(Samoa, England, Argentina, Kenya)

USA Sevens champions Samoa ended proceedings on day with a 14-12 victory against Ben Ryan’s England in the Pool A decider.

Paul Perez scored on the stroke of half time before Alafoti Fa’osiliva’s effort in the second half, but it was Tom Mitchell’s missed conversion after Rob Vickerman had opened the scoring that proved decisive.

Stephan Betham’s side began their Hong Kong Sevens campaign with a 19-7 victory against Kenya thanks to tries from Ken Pisi, Paul Perez and Alatasi Tupou before Afa Aiono scored twice in their 27-0 victory against Argentina.

England are fourth in the World Series standings and got off to a winning start in front of the ex-pat crowd, beating Argentina 19-10 thanks to tries from Dan Norton, Rob Vickerman and Mat Turner.

On day two, Norton completed a hat-trick, taking him level with Frank Halai on 27 tries for the season, as Ben Ryan’s side held on to a narrow 21-17 victory against Kenya.

Argentina finished third after beating Kenya 19-7.

Results:
England 19-10 Argentina
Samoa 19-7 Kenya
England 21-17 Kenya
Samoa 27-0 Argentina
Argentina 19-7 Kenya
Samoa 14-12 England

Pool B:
(New Zealand, South Africa, Wales, United States)

Current Series leaders and defending Hong Kong Sevens champions New Zealand made it three wins from three after beating South Africa 19-10 in their final pool match to progress to the quarters as Pool B winners.

Earlier, Gordon Tietjens’ side came from 7-0 behind against Wales to win 24-7 after defeating USA 29-5 thanks to another impressive performance from the influential Tomasi Cama on day one.

The 2008/09 World Series winners South Africa beat reigning RWC Sevens champions Wales 10-0 in the second Pool B match, the day’s penultimate match, thanks to tries from Boom Prinsloo and Cecil Afrika, before Afrika scored their third try in their 15-7 victory on day two against USA.

Dan Smith and Richard Smith both scored two tries, and Alex Walker kicked 12 points as Wales finished third in Pool B after a convincing 42-7 victory against USA.

Results:
South Africa 10-0 Wales
New Zealand 29-5 United States
South Africa 15-7 USA
New Zealand 24-7 Wales
Wales 42-7 USA
New Zealand 19-10 South Africa

Pool C:
(Fiji, Australia, France, Scotland)

Fiji defeated Australia 22-5 and France 26-12 on day to maintain their 100 percent record and finish as Pool C winners. Metuisela Talebula was the hero, scoring two tries in both victories.

In their opening match, Isikeli Tulwainunu Vuruna scored two of Fiji’s seven tries as the side currently lying second in the World Series beat Scotland 39-5.

Allan Fa’alava’au scored Australia’s second hat-trick of the tournament, as they beat Scotland 29-14 to maintain their 100 percent record after Greg Jeloudev had scored their first against the Dubai Sevens runners-up France in a 31-10 victory.

Scotland finished third in Pool C after coming from 12-0 behind at half time against France, as Sean Kennedy scored with the last play of the match and Colin Gregor kicked the crucial conversion in the 14-12 victory.

Results:
Australia 31-10 France
Fiji 39-5 Scotland
Australia 29-14 Scotland
Fiji 26-12 France
France 12-14 Scotland
Fiji 22-5 Australia

We bring you all the action from the core team qualifying competition!

Hong Kong beat China and Tonga on day two of the 2012 Cathay Pacific / Hong Kong Sevens to maintain their 100 percent record and book their place in the quarters as top seeds.

Portugal were the only other side to win all three of their pool matches in the core team qualifying competition, with Canada the side to progress as pool winners.

Pool D:
(Tonga, Uruguay, Hong Kong, China)

Hosts Hong Kong progressed to the quarter finals after beating China 29-5 thanks to nine points from Keith Robertson, making it three wins from three on home soil.

Earlier they shocked Tonga and made it two wins from two as they scored three unanswered second half tries to win 26-7 against the South Sea islanders.

Tonga finished second in Pool D after beating Uruguay 33-12 in the final match of the qualifying competition thanks to two tries from Daniel Kilioni.

Uruguay suffered a second defeat, dramatically conceding a try in the final play of their match against China. Liu Guanjan scored his second try after the buzzer had sounded, captain Li Jialin also scored twice in the match.

On day one Tonga came from 5-0 behind to beat China 33-12 after Li Yang had scored the opening try of the match. Dai Rees’ side also proved too strong for Uruguay as they were buoyed by the home crowd to win 17-14 thanks to tries from Tom McQueen, Keith Robertson and Ross Armour.

Results:
Uruguay 14-17 Hong Kong
Tonga 33-12 China
Uruguay 26-29 China
Tonga 7-26 Hong Kong
Hong Kong 29-5 China
Tonga 33-12 Uruguay

Pool E:
(Canada, Spain, Zimbabwe, Philippines)

Canada top Pool E despite suffering a 24-21 defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe in their first match on day two. Geriant John’s side ended the pool stages with a narrow 10-7 victory against Spain, who finished second.

Earlier Spain made it two wins from two record at the Hong Kong Sevens, beating the Philippines 21-5 thanks to 11 points from Cesar Sempere who scored the first of their three tries.

Zimbabwe bounced back from their opening day loss to record two victories on day two, 24-21 against Canada and 21-17 against the Philippines, and finished third.

On day one Javier Canosa, captain Pablo Feijoo and Pedro Martin all scored for Spain as they beat Zimbabwe 19-5 after five different players scored tries for Canada as they beat the Philippines 35-5.

Results:
Spain 19-5 Zimbabwe
Canada 35-5 Philippines
Spain 21-5 Philippines
Canada 21-24 Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe 21-17 Philippines
Canada 10-7 Spain
 
Pool F:
(Portugal, Russia, Japan, Guyana)

Portugal top Pool F ahead of the quarter finals after beating Russia 17-10 in their third and final match.

Duarte Moreira scored a last minute try to secure victory after they had earlier come from 22-0 behind at half time to beat Japan 26-22.

In yet another match decided with the last play, Portugal won their second match thanks to Aderito Esteves who scored his second try after the buzzer had sounded.

Russia made it two wins from two as they came from 12-0 behind to beat Guyana 14-12 in their first match on day two, thanks to second half tries from captain Dmitriy Perov and Ivan Kotov in the final play of the match.

Guyana suffered a third defeat in their final pool match, losing 38-5 to Japan as Shohei Toyoshima and Yoshikazu Fujita both scored two tries.

On day one Pedro Leal scored twice in the opening match of the tournament as Portugal secured a 19-0 victory against Guyana and Russia beat Japan 14-7 in their first match, Vladimir Ostroushko breaking a 7-7 half time deadlock.

Results:
Russia 14-7 Japan
Portugal 19-0 Guyana
Russia 14-12 Guyana
Portugal 26-22 Japan
Japan 38-5 Guyana
Portugal 17-10 Russia