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Nick Jordan

The opening chapter of round two of the HSBC Sevens World Series saw another day of high drama at Outeniqua Park in George.

South Africa and New Zealand looked the most comfortable of the 16 teams conceding only two tries each while Wales were the only other unbeaten team.

The home side dispatched Portugal 38-0 and neighbours Zimbabwe 33-7 before easing through 29-5 over Argentina. Cecil Afrika again led the way scoring twice against Zimbabwe and once in the opening match and kicking seven conversions.

The Boks brought in Paul Delport, Steven Hunt and debutant Jacques Engelbrecht to replace a concussed Renfred Dazel, Lubalolo Mtembu and MJ Mentz respectively and they delighted the home crowd with three convincing victories in Pool D.

Samoa and near neighbours Fiji fought out an epic 14-14 draw in the Pool B decider. It was 0-0 at halftime before Fautua Otto, who scored the winner a week ago in the corresponding match, broke the deadlock and Simaika Mikaele put the Samoans 14-0 ahead moments later.

Fiji, the beaten finalists in George last year, came back dramatically with Josefa Bole and Jerry Burotu, who had bagged hat-tricks in both of the earlier rounds, scoring and Emosi Vucago kicking both conversions, the second with time up. Fiji thus went through on points differential, after earlier spanking both Namibia and the USA, to play Australia while Samoa take on Wales.

"To come back with time up showed a lot of steel for our young side against a very experienced Samoan side," said coach Iliesa Tanivula. "It was a great result and we will take a lot of positives out of that and hopefully we can get up tomorrow. We just have to lift from the first whistle and not leave it too late!"

Tanivula said Burotu's performance was 'huge'.

"Jerry has been there for a couple of years and has grown personally as a player and he is a good team man."

Defending champion New Zealand proved too strong for Kenya and Russia as they recorded 47-0 and 33-7 victories and turned on the power against Dubai champions England, winning 20-7 to top Pool C. Coach Gordon Tietjens was particularly pleased with his team's defence.

"We communicated really well and were patient on defence and when your defence is going well the attack takes care of itself," said Tietjens. "It was a pretty tough pool for us and I'm delighted to get three wins.

"We took a bit of revenge against England and it's a great confidence booster for the young players. They got in and defended really well and it was a good game to win for us."

Two of the newcomers, Declan O'Donnell and Frank Halai, got New Zealand out to 10-0 against England, which was the halftime score. Dan Norton put England on the board early in the second spell but Kiwi captain DJ Forbes stretched the lead to 15-7 and Jackson Ormond, another in only his second tournament, sealed the victory with New Zealand's fourth try.

Wales made their second quarter-final in as many tournaments beating top seed Australia. 33-15 in an opening round upset. A 19-7 win over Scotland followed and Aaron Shingler, who made his debut for Wales at the Commonwealth Games, picked up four tries in the 29-12 win against France, a Welsh record.

"We're glad we've backed it up from Dubai and put two good Day Ones together as we don't normally and to be fair to the boys the attitude has been excellent," said Wales coach Paul John.

"It was a big game this morning against Australia and puts us in pole position so we're pleased. We knew we had a chance this morning against Australia as there wasn't a lot in the game last week and we probably played them at the best time this week.

"It's been a good day and hopefully we can make a big step and get through the quarter-final. Hopefully the boys will be recharged and get that extra step tomorrow. They boys would be disappointed to go out first thing tomorrow."

John had special praise for the Scarlets lock forward.

"Aaron is abrasive, he's good in the air and he's an athlete. He's had a very good day today and hopefully is raring to go again tomorrow."

The Aussies looked sluggish in the opening tie and but easily accounted for France 28-0 and Scotland 21-7 to set up a showdown with Fiji.

The USA nearly caused the biggest upset in the HSBC Sevens World Series since, well, last week when they narrowly went down 22-24 to reigning Series champions Samoa. Conversions made all the difference as both teams scored four tries.

The Dubai quarter-finalists burst out to a 10-0 lead after two minutes, with Mile Pulu and captain Matt Hawkins scoring tries, though Samoa pulled one back through Alafoti Fa'osiliva late into the half. Ofisa Treviranus, Fautua Otto and Fa'osiliva scored in the second spell and Otto converted one for a 24-10 lead before the Eagles stormed back with tries to Punimata and Miles Craigwell.

Argentina improved on their Bowl appearance at Dubai last week, beating Portugal and Zimbabwe to make the Cup round, but Kenya were again disappointing. Although the Africans held England to 7-5 at halftime, the Dubai champions had scored when Otieno got a yellow card and Isoa Damu and John Brake made the game safe midway through second spell.

Kenya's other results were a 47-0 thumping by New Zealand and a 34-5 loss to Russia in a match which saw Innocent Simitu sent off by referee Federico Anselmi (Argentina). Kenya will now play Portugal for the second week in a row.

A downpour at George made conditions difficult for part of the day and only moderate crowds were present at a stadium that is struggling to keep hold of the event when the current contract expires. Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Rustenberg are all said to be bidding for the 2011 version.


RESULTS
Pool A: Wales 33 Australia 15; Scotland 21 France 12; Australia 28 France 0; Wales 19 Scotland 7; Wales 29 France 12; Australia 21 Scotland 7

Pool B: Samoa 24 USA 22; Fiji 47 Namibia 7; Samoa 43 Namibia 0; Fiji 43 USA 5; USA 33 Namibia 7; Samoa 14 Fiji 14

Pool C: New Zealand 47 Kenya 0; England 19 Russia 5; New Zealand 33 Russia 7; England 21 Kenya 5; Russia 34 Kenya 5; New Zealand 20 England 7

Pool D: South Africa 38 Portugal 0; Argentina 24 Zimbabwe 12; South Africa 33 Zimbabwe 7; Argentina 26 Portugal 0 ; Portugal 26 Zimbabwe 19; South Africa 29 Argentina 5

DRAW FOR DAY TWO

CUP
Wales v Samoa
England v South Africa
New Zealand v Argentina
Australia v Fiji

BOWL
Scotland v Namibia
Kenya v Portugal
Russia v Zimbabwe
France v USA
 

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