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New Zealand and Fiji looked the most likely on Day One of the HSBC Sevens World Series played on a sun-drenched Adelaide Oval.

Top seed New Zealand scored three big wins over Wales, the Cook Islands and Kenya and will play Argentina who pushed England all the way in their pool match.

Kiwi captain DJ Forbes said New Zealand still had plenty to work on if they wanted to break their duck at the famous cricket ground.

"Although we had three good wins we let in a few lazy tries and maybe we were a bit too keen and too aggressive in the physical contact and perhaps overcommitting in the rucks," said Forbes. "We are definitely excited about another quarter final and Day Two is where it matters."

The skipper, who missed Las Vegas and played little part in Hong Kong, scored two tries in the 34-14 win over Kenya and feels he is almost back to full fitness.

"The hamstring is still feeling a little tight but on its way to recovery. The week in Hong Kong has freed me up to play today and hopefully I'll be 100% tomorrow."

Fiji came from 0-14 down against hosts Australia to win 26-21, after earlier disposing of Tonga and the USA, and the 2009 winners take on South Africa who have twice triumphed in Adelaide.

Australian coach Michael O'Connor highlighted the restart as the key difference in the game.

"They got a lot of possession from their restart which really exposed us," O'Connor said. "But we're not unhappy about a quarterfinal against Samoa and we're in reasonable shape."

Samoa, the defending champion, had little trouble against a below-strength South Africa, winning 26-17 and coach Stephen Betham

"We're happy with the results but still have a lot to work on and tend to our bumps and bruises," said Betham. "Hopefully tomorrow all our players will come through, we'll relax and give it the best we can."

The most experienced team at the tournament scored three first-half tries to Rupeni Levasa, Lolo Lui and Alafoti Fa'osiliva and Lui added a second to seal the victory.

Debutant Tshotso Mbovane, 18, grabbed a double for South Africa which delighted coach Paul Treu.

"We wanted to give him a full run against an experienced team and he passed the test," said Treu. "He's got a great future and will keep growing as a player and his two tries will be great memories for him."

Treu said the lesson from Hong Kong was to use his entire squad on Day One.

"We had to give some of the non-starters a run as last week we lost two players in the first match and played the whole tournament with nine. We took the opportunity to give some of the guys a break and hopefully tomorrow they will be fresh."

Frankie Horne, Kyle Brown and Cecil Afrika all started the final match from the bench.

England beat Argentina for the third time this season, but only just, sneaking through 21-19 after the lead changed five times.

"That was very tight and full credit to Argentina for not letting us stick to our game plan," said two-try hero Nick Royle. "They spread the ball wide and we just had to put our heads down and scrape the win."

Royle tallied eight tries on the opening day and was enjoying being back in the Sevens environment, particularly in these conditions.

"It's a fantastic pitch with nice short grass and is good for a team like ours with one of the quickest teams on the circuit."

England will play Wales in the fourth quarter-final tomorrow.

Top Dogs All Start Well
Earlier, the favourites had all recorded big wins in their opening ties with New Zealand, England, Fiji and Australia looking most impressive.

Tim Mikkelson stood out as New Zealand beat Wales 36-10, Royle ran in three tries as England accounted for Scotland 45-7 and Fiji looked in ominous form against last year's finalist the USA, winning 41-5.

Australia have not made the final in Adelaide and captain Bernard Foley got them off to a good start scoring two of Australia's six tries as they beat Tonga 40-14.

New Zealand kept up their good form thrashing the Cook Islands 40-7, with Toby Arnold's three tries the highlight, and Royle got to stretch the legs scoring a second hattrick as they beat Papua New Guinea 45-12.

Fiji produced a controlled display to beat a six-man Tonga 33-14, with David Batiratu scoring twice, and Australia overcame a competitive USA, winning 28-10.

However, South Africa had to come from behind to beat Japan 21-12, having earlier beaten France, and Samoa looked less than convincing against Les Bleus, winning 19-12, with standouts Afa Aiono and Tom Iosefo among the scorers.

Wales came from behind to record an important victory over Kenya 26-14, and will play in the quarter finals for the third year in a row. Kristian Phillips, in just his second tournament, looked useful and scored in every match including a pair in the big 53-0 win over the Cook Islands.

Scotland were almost exposed by the pace of Papua New Guinea, coming from 0-14 down to win a thriller 19-14 and finish third in Pool B.

France continued to underwhelm, making their 15th Bowl in a row, while the USA and Tonga fought out a decent clash in Pool C with Al Caravelli's team triumphing 24-12.

Dingo Deans Delighted With Development
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans, a big fan of the game and in attendance again, said he was delighted that the recalled Brian Sefanaia and Kimami Sitauti had found a place in O'Connor's Australian squad.

"Absolutely," said Deans when asked if he encouraged fringe Super 15 players to play Sevens. "There hasn't been a lot of it but I see no reason why it can't happen more often. It's a win-win.

"There's no doubt that Sevens is a perfect pathway to the top," continued the Kiwi-born Deans. "We (the ARU) have given it that credence which wasn't there previously and players now know that we're watching them. We've selected a number of players out of the Sevens in recent years and we've made a conscious decision to make Sevens a priority."
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Results from Adelaide Sevens
Pool A: New Zealand 36 Wales 10; Kenya 19 Cook Islands 12; New Zealand 40 Cook Islands 7; Wales 26 Kenya 14; Wales 53 Cook Islands 0; New Zealand 34 Kenya 14
 

Pool B: England 45 Scotland 7; Argentina 45 Papua New Guinea 5; England 45 Papua New Guinea 12; Argentina 22 Scotland 7; Scotland 19 Papua New Guinea 14; England 21 Argentina 19
 

Pool C: Fiji 41 USA 5; Australia 40 Tonga 14; Fiji 33 Tonga 14; Australia 28 USA 10; USA 24 Tonga 12; Fiji 26 Australia 21
 

Pool D: South Africa 19 France 0; Samoa 40 Japan 7; South Africa 21 Japan 12; Samoa 19 France 12; France 40 Japan 7; Samoa 26 South Africa 17
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Quarterfinals
Cup
New Zealand v Argentina
Australia v Samoa
Fiji v South Africa
Wales v England

Bowl
Kenya v Papua New Guinea
Tonga v France
USA v Japan
Cook Islands v Scotland
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