LA Sevens: BlitzBoks fall to Uruguay and Ireland

DAY ONE WRAP: The BlitzBoks advanced to the Cup quarterfinals at the Los Angeles Sevens despite losing two of their three pool games.

The teams battled through the rain to put on a show on Day One on Saturday.

There were a couple of weather delays in America and thunder and lightning played its part, but there were still some great Sevens ties.

This is the sixth event for men on the current circuit and Samoa, Ireland, Fiji and Great Britain ended the day with a perfect record.

Uruguay also caused a big shock by defeating South Africa in Pool B.

The South Africans also lost the final game of the day 5-14 to Ireland.

The BlitzBoks will face Fiji in the last eight.

POOL A

Samoa and defending Los Angeles champions New Zealand progressed to the Cup last eight.

Up first, at one stage Samoa were 21-5 up on the USA, but they were hauled back to 21-19 and only a try from Tuna Tuitama made sure of the win for the former 26-19.

Leroy Carter led the way with two tries as New Zealand began with a 26-7 victory over Chile.

Samoa led Chile by just 7-5 at half-time, but ran in four further tries after the interval to win 31-7.

New Zealand came out of the blocks flying to be ahead of USA 24-5 at the interval, eventually winning 36-15 with Dylan Collier scoring a brace of tries.

Joe Schroeder, Malacchi Esdale, Marcus Tupuola and Gavan D’Amore scored tries to make sure USA sealed third place in the Pool with a 20-17 win over Chile.

And, in the Pool decider, Paul Scanlan and Faafoi Falaniko scored converted tries as Samoa edged out New Zealand 14-7.

POOL B

Ireland and South Africa progressed into the Cup knock-out phase in a tight Pool.

Only a late Andrew Smith try converted by Billy Dardis got Ireland past Uruguay 7-0 after it looked like the game might end scoreless.

Christie Grobbelaar and Ricardo Duarttee were the try scorers as South Africa got the better of Canada 12-0.

A Jordan Conroy hat-trick then led the way as Ireland found their feet against Canada and came through 22-0.

Then came the performance of the day as Uruguay came from 5-0 down to get the better of Sydney silver medallists South Africa 10-5.

Mateo Vinals and Bautista Basso were the try scorers for the victors.

They could not follow it up in their final Pool match, Lachlan Kratz, Jake Thiel (2) and Thomas Isherwood tries helping Canada win 26-10 in the penultimate match of day one.

Ireland won the Pool with a 14-5 triumph over South Africa in the final game of the day.

Dylan O’Grady and Harry McNulty scored converted tries and, as they topped the Pool, South Africa just managed to come second on points difference.

POOL C

Fiji won the Pool while Australia just made it through to the Cup quarter-finals in second place here.

Two tries from Denis Abukuse and a conversion from Anthony Omondi gave Kenya a shock 12-7 triumph over Australia first up.

Iowane Teba then starred with four tries as Fiji showed their class to see off Japan 50-0.

Matthew Gonzalez, Henry Paterson, James Turner and Maurice Longbottom scored tries as Australia got things on track with a 24-10 win over Japan.

Ponepati Loganimasi, Rokoua Rasaku and Teba then crossed as Fiji beat Kenya 19-5.

Yoshihiro Noguchi then kicked a crucial conversion as Japan edged out Kenya 7-5, but still finished fourth in the Pool.

And Fiji were 12-5 down to Australia, but tries from Jeremaia Matana and Pilipo Bukayaro saw them home 15-12.

Australia took second spot on points difference from Kenya and Japan.

POOL D

Great Britain won all their games while Hamilton winners Argentina joined them in progressing into the Cup knock-out stages.

Argentina were 5-0 up on Great Britain first up, but a second half try by Ross McCann converted by Kaleem Barreto gave their opponents a 7-5 win.

Jordan Sepho, Varian Pasquet and Joseph Jefferson Lee scored tries as France beat Spain 19-7.

Great Britain led Spain 19-5 before the latter fought back to 19-17, only a late Morgan Williams try making sure of the victory for the team who would go on to win the Pool.

Marcos Moneta, Rodrigo Isgro and Matías Osadczuk tries helped Argentina beat France 17-12.

Argentina then scored three tries again to defeat Spain 19-7.

Ethan Waddleton, Robbie Fergusson and Jamie Barden scored converted tries as Great Britain beat France 21-14. The French did take third in the Pool despite this result.

Day One results:

Great Britain 7-5 Argentina
France 19-7 Spain
Samoa 26-19 United States
New Zealand 26-7 Chile
Australia 7-12 Kenya
Fiji 50-0 Japan
Ireland 7-0 Uruguay
South Africa 12-0 Canada
Great Britain 24-17 Spain
France 12-17 Argentina
Samoa 31-5 Chile
New Zealand 36-15 United States
Australia 24-10 Japan
Fiji 19-5 Kenya
Ireland 22-0 Canada
South Africa 5-10 Uruguay
Argentina 19-7 Spain
France 14-21 Great Britain
United States 20-17 Chile
New Zealand 7-14 Samoa
Kenya 5-7 Japan
Fiji 15-12 Australia
Uruguay 10-26 Canada
South Africa 5-14 Ireland