Dubai Sevens Day One Round Up

New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and England all proceeded unbeaten to the second day of an ultra-competitive Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens.

Reigning IRB Sevens World Series and Dubai champions New Zealand started their defence with three convincing wins, while England produced a dominant display to dispatch Fiji in the day's final encounter.

Cup Quarter finals
New Zealand - Kenya
South Africa - Australia
Samoa - Fiji
England - Argentina

LATEST RESULTS FROM DUBAI >>

Pool A: NZ win trans-Tasman battle

Defending champions New Zealand proceeded unbeaten on day one after capping an impressive start with a ruthless 33-7 victory over Australia.

Zar Lawrence opened the scoring and a further Tom Mikkelson try made it 14-0 at the break. Luke Morahan pulled one back soon after the restart but tries by Mikkelson, Cama and Nafi Tuitavake put the match beyond doubt.

Earlier New Zealand dominated the forward exchanges in respective 28-7 and 43-7 victories against Wales and Zimbabwe as Gordon Tietjens took the chance to give a first ever taste of the action to 18-year-old Julian Savea, Tim Nanai-Williams, Paul Grant and Kurt Baker. Seasoned pros Tomasi Cama, Zar Lawrence, Solomon King and Raikabula also starred.

Michael O'Connor's newlook Australia had got off to a winning start, first coming from behind to win 21-12 against the Zimbabweans, and then jinxing their way to a thrilling 22-17 win against the Welsh.

Wales must make do with a place in the Bowl quarter finals on day two, with the consolation that victory against the Zimbabweans has secured them a favourable draw in the last eight


Pool B: Boks the class act

South Africa were the class act in Pool B with any number of players providing a genuine attacking threat going forward. First they outpaced Scotland to win 31-10 and then, after a slow start, Ryno Benjamin and Gio Aplon upped the ante against the much-improved hosts Arabian Gulf to inspire a comfortable 33-0 win.

The ever dangerous Kenyans also saw off both the hosts and the young Scots, Collins Injera contributing four tries in 28-7 and 38-0 wins to set up a pool decider with the Boks, which the South Africans won 31-0.

The Arabian Gulf showed just how far they have come with the help and guidance of Springbok coach Paul Treu, scoring first against Scotland before eventually going down 19-14.

Pool C: Samoa show title pedigree

Rudi Moor's experienced Samoan outfit was made to work hard on day one but came through unbeaten after three tough matches.

A newlook France side provided the toughest of openers, which the islanders came through 19-14 thanks to Apelu Fa'aiuga's winning try. They were far more impressive, though, in beating the rugged Georgians 33-7, captain Uale Mai pulling the strings and test forward Alafoti Fa'osiliva catching the eye in his second season of Sevens.

In the tie to decide the pool they saw off Argentina 19-5 with tries from Ofisa Treviranus, Lolo Lui and Fa'aiuga.

In helping Argentina to an opening victory against Georgia, Santiago Gomez Cora earlier reached 200 tries in the IRB Sevens World Series - the leading all-time mark - eight years after scoring his first here in 2000. The Pumas won that first match 26-7 and then battled from 7-7 at the break to beat the French in an energy-sapping second half, Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino capping a fine move to break the deadlock before a further score took them out to 21-7.

France were then taken to the wire by the Georgians in the pool's all-European match-up, winning another tight game 14-12.

Pool D: Fijians impress

England announced themselves as genuine title contenders here in Dubai for the first time since December 2005. Two Fijian-born players Isoa Damu and Josua Drauniniu provided telling contributions in two opening wins, 31-7 against the Portuguese and 24-10 against the USA, while Ollie Phillips and Uche Odouza also showed good form.

In the pool decider Damu scored two tries against Fiji and one each for Odouza and Mickey Young combined to produce a convincing 28-5 victory.

Fiji themselves played some sparkling rugby earlier in the day, seeing off USA 47-12 and then grinding out a hard-fought victory against Portugal, who held them to 0-0 until half time with some typically dogged defence before Vereniki Goneva and Osea Kolinisau scored unanswered tries after the break. England, however, proved a step too far for Serevi's side.

In another absorbing match the Portuguese then edged USA 22-12, Pedro Leal's late try taking them seven points clear before his neat penalty goal confirmed victory.

England's women on cruise control

England look destined for more silverware in the women's event, which is a vital warm-up for several teams ahead of the inaugural Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens on the same stage in March.

Unbeaten under new coach, former men's captain Simon Amor, they recorded three convincing victories on Thursday, including over fellow World Cup aspirants USA, and enjoyed more success on day two to comfortably win through to the knock-out stages.

"This was a really good start to the tournament. I am very pleased, and overall the players demonstrated some first class rugby although we know we still have some fine tuning to do," said Amor, whose side is playing in the colours of their charity partner Sporting Chance Foundation.

"Now we have got the semi finals and hopefully the final on Saturday. If we draw Canada it will be a tough game. They are very fit and physically big but we are looking forward to taking on an international side who we could face in the World Cup in March."

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