Gold Coast: NZ & SA unbeaten
All the top seeds eased into the Cup quarterfinals after Day One at the Gold Coast Sevens, which is Round One of the IRB World Series.
Defending World Series champions New Zealand got off to a scintillating start, winning all three of their pool matches without conceding a single point.
Gordon Tietjens' side beat the United States (38-0), Tonga (26-0) and Kenya (31-0) and will now face Samoa in the Cup quarterfinals on Day Two.
South Africa were the only other side to maintain a 100 percent record and they will play Wales, while Fiji and Ben Ryan will come face-to-face with England.
The hosts, Australia, bounced back from a 21-21 draw with Scotland, a match in which they led 21-0, to win their matches with Argentina and Samoa to the delight of the home crowd to set up a quarterfinal with Kenya, who beat Tonga and USA in their first two matches before coming up against the reigning Series champions.
Sean McMahon scored Australia's first try of their home tournament, but they were pegged back to 21-21 when James Fleming scored with the last play of the match.
In their second match, Nick Malouf scored two tries in a 22-7 win over Los Pumas before some excellent defending ensured they beat Samoa 12-0 in the final match of the day thanks to tries from captain Ed Jenkins and Shannon Walker, and some excellent defence.
Defending Gold Coast champions Fiji lost to Wales 19-22 in the penultimate match of the day but their points difference was enough for them to top the pool, while Simon Amor's England were defeated 22-14 by Neil Powell's South Africa.
On a day of mixed fortunes for the nine new coaches, while five are still in the hunt to lift the Cup, the other four will compete in the Bowl.
Matt Hawkins and Argentina's Santiago Gomez Cora both had to wait until the last set of matches for their first wins, and they came against Tonga and Scotland respectively, and they will meet Scotland and Tonga in the Bowl quarterfinals.
Spain and Portugal are still looking for their first wins under their new coaches, and will meet Canada and Portugal on Day Two.
Earlier in the day, Dan Bibby scored the first hat-trick of the season, while Waisake Naholo scored the first try of the season against USA in the opening match of the day.
All the Day One results:
Pool A:
New Zealand 31-0 Kenya
United States 14-7 Tonga
Kenya 31-5 United States
New Zealand 26-0 Tonga
Kenya 38-0 Tonga
New Zealand 38-0 United States
Pool B:
France 28-19 Spain
South Africa 22-14 England
England 26-12 France
South Africa 38-7 Spain
England 54-7 Spain
South Africa 29-5 France
Pool C:
Fiji 19-22 Wales
Canada 24-17 Portugal
Wales 14-19 Canada
Fiji 38-0 Portugal
Wales 33-14 Portugal
Fiji 20-10 Canada
Pool D:
Samoa 0-12 Australia
Argentina 21-19 Scotland
Samoa 19-12 Scotland
Australia 21-21 Scotland
Samoa 26-7 Argentina
Australia 22-7 Argentina
