Sevens world series leaders New Zealand, England, Samoa and Fiji opened their Hong Kong accounts with romps yesterday.
Joint leaders New Zealand brushed aside South Korea 61-0, while the English made only one mistake against China in winning 59-5.
Defending champions Samoa cruised past tournament newcomers Mexico 64-0, and fan favorites Fiji dispensed with Malaysia 59-0.
PHOTO: AFP
Also, Australia brushed aside Zimbabwe 42-0 and South Africa shrugged off an early scare to overpower Spain 35-5.
Buxton Popoalii led the way for New Zealand with 26 points from two tries and eight conversions.
“Them not crossing our line was pleasing. Not conceding a try was pleasing. In sevens rugby anything can happen so it’s important to get out and get a lot of confidence,” New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens said.
“I firmly believe that you set the standard for the tournament by your first game. It looks good going into tomorrow,” he said.
England were also in control against China, despite conceding a try by Wang Chongyi four minutes in. However, England’s Ben Gollings, who added to his all-time leading sevens points record with a try and seven conversions, was unconcerned by the slipup.
“We’re not going to go home and kill ourselves over it,” he said.
“We’ve got a whole day of rugby tomorrow and it’s a great victory for us. We’re happy and we’ll move on,” Gollings said.
In other matches it was:
‧ Portugal 12, France 5
‧ US 24, Japan 19
‧ Scotland 12, Tonga 10
‧ Russia 22, Kenya 5
‧ Wales 35, Hong Kong 12
‧ Canada 22, Argentina 21
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