Samisoni Viriviri: Scored two tries for Fiji against England
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Wellington Cup champions England lost both their matches - to Fiji and Portugal - on the opening day at the USA Sevens in Las Vegas.
Four teams - defending champions Samoa, Fiji, South Africa and New Zealand - have won both of their matches to lead the way, but the Cup quarters remain wide open with the final pool games still to be played on Saturday.
On another competitive day results at the Sam Boyd Stadium have left all 16 teams still capable of qualifying for the Cup quarter-finals on day two.
If three teams are level on competition points at the end of the pool stages, the team with the highest points difference will go through to the Cup quarters.
Kenya - who were edged out by England in the Cup final in Wellington - lost to Canada and only narrowly beat Uruguay.
Spain bounced back from an opening defeat to defending champions Samoa to produce a remarkable performance and beat Australia, ending their impressive run which had yielded nine wins in their last 10 matches.
Day Two Pool fixtures:
Fiji v Portugal
Canada v Uruguay
France v Wales
Samoa v Australia
England v Scotland
Kenya v South Africa
New Zealand v Argentina
Spain v United States
Pool A (England, Scotland, Fiji, Portugal)
Fiji, who will be without both their suspended captain Setefano Cakau and Manueli Lagai for the remainder of the tournament, won both of their opening matches on day one of the USA Sevens at the Sam Boyd Stadium, narrowly holding on to a 14-12 victory against Scotland, with Russell Weir narrowly missing a last-minute penalty drop goal.
England, last week's champions, lost both of their opening matches, against Fiji 26-17 with two tries from Samisoni Viriviri and Portugal, 21-5.
Scotland beat Portugal in their first match, with Mark Robertson and Michael Fedo scoring the tries and Colin Gregor's touchline conversion proving decisive.
All three teams, however, are still in with a chance of reaching the Cup competition depending on results on day two.
Pool B (Kenya, South Africa, Canada, Uruguay)
South Africa became the second side to end day one with a 100% record, adding a 17-5 victory against Canada to an impressive 45-0 victory against the only non-core side competing in Las Vegas, Uruguay.
Canada defeated Kenya early on, which meant both of the Hertz Sevens finalists lost their opening matches. Sean Duke crossed for his 22nd try of the Series with Nanyak Dala and Jeffery Hassler scoring Canada's other tries.
Mike Friday's Kenyans bounced back from their opening defeat, riding their luck to come from 7-5 down and inflict a second defeat on Uruguay, Biko Adema benefiting from smart work by Oscar Ayodi.
Pool C (New Zealand, Argentina, France, Wales)
New Zealand also won both of their two matches on day one, conceding just five points in the process.
Belgium Tuatagaloa helped the reigning Series champions beat France 21-0 with two of their three tries before they beat Wales 40-5 with Ben Lam crossing for a hat-trick.
Reigning Rugby World Cup Sevens champions Wales beat Argentina in a rematch of that 2009 final in Dubai 17-7 in their first match of the USA Sevens.
Javier Rojas secured a 14-12 victory for Argentina against France, Los Pumas' first win of the day, and Les Bleus' second defeat. Both sides can still reach the Cup quarters.
Pool D (Samoa, Australia, Spain, USA)
Defending champions Samoa maintained a 100% record on day one, beating hosts USA and Spain.
They came from 12-0 behind to beat Spain 19-12, with captain Afa Aiono scoring the winning try under the posts to the delight of the crowd at the Sam Boyd Stadium, before Levi Asifa'amatala and Reupena Levasa scored the tries against USA.
Spain bounced back to defeat Australia 24-14 to bring an end to an impressive run from Michael O'Connor's side, who had won nine of their previous 10 matches.
The hosts USA lost their opening match to Australia 26-7, although they too can still make it to the Cup tomorrow if they beat Spain and points difference goes their way.
Results:
Samoa 12 - 7 United States
Australia 14 - 24 Spain
Argentina 14 - 12 France
New Zealand 40 - 5 Wales
South Africa 17 - 5 Canada
Kenya 12 - 7 Uruguay
Scotland 12 - 14 Fiji
England 5 - 21 Portugal
Australia 26 - 7 United States
Samoa 19 - 12 Spain
Argentina 7 - 17 Wales
New Zealand 21 - 0 France
South Africa 45 - 0 Uruguay
Kenya 12 - 19 Canada
Scotland 12 - 10 Portugal
England 17 - 26 Fiji
With thanks to the IRB
Comments
kitch says...
interesting how before last week england havent done so well this year bc they had lost alot to injury. But even with their stars back this week they loose to portugal!! I wonder what excuse ryan will trot out this time?.. mind you they can mathematically still make it through and win this leg!
Posted 23:00 09th February 2013
keste03 says...
@ferdie - Fiji changed their whole team before last week so that explains a bit - and the pitch in Vegas is 15m narrower than the one in Wellington, favouring some teams (but not England) like Samoa and other teams with big runners.
But agree totally, it is brilliant that "all" team can beat each other.
Posted 16:24 09th February 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
It's great how new countries are getting into the mix and the old order is being regularly challenged. Wonder if its the Olympics carrot at the end of the stick.
Posted 09:27 09th February 2013
ferdie says...
I like the unpredictability of Sevens, how can Fiji be so poor a week ago in Wellington, yet beat that week's winners, England a week later?
NZ are minus captain Forbes, the replacement captain Raikabula injured midweek, missing Kurt Baker too, a chance for Warwick Lahmert (another Taranaki man!) to show his paces, he only flew in the day before.
Posted 08:47 09th February 2013