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Australia started their home Adelaide Sevens tournament in ideal fashion by beating staunch sporting rivals England 21-17 in a fitting a finale on day one.

The inaugural ‘Friday Night Footy’ for the Australia leg of the IRB World Series Sevens also saw wins for Series leaders and defending Adelaide champions South Africa, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, Argentina, Kenya and USA, who scored at the death to deny Tonga.

The Aussies were quickly off the mark with tries by two 18-year-olds, Domonic Shipperley and the outstanding Luke Morahan, and led 14-0 but England hit back through Tom Varndell and Ollie Phillips to trail by just two points at the half. England captain Phillips scored again just after the break, latching onto Dan Caprice's fine off-load to put his side into the lead, but Richard Kingi set up Shaun Foley for the winning score to send the home crowd into delirium.

"We got a dream start and that's a very good England side, which they showed when they were 14-0 down - they came back and nearly took the game from us and fortunately for us we stole it right at the end," said Australia Sevens coach Michael O'Connor, who is in charge of a new young side this season.

“The way the scoring was going, if we scored the final try, which was possible - we could get up and fortunately that is what happened.”

"Young Luke Morahan is on the verge of Super 14 because of what he has achieved in Sevens, the national team coach is here looking at him and it means a lot.

"We've got four players that are under 20, a couple of 18 year olds, it augurs well. We started afresh this year with only two players who had played IRB Sevens rugby before and I think the key now is to try and keep the nucleus of that group that we've got this year because they've gained an incredible amount of experience, learned the hard way in a lot of instances but it's starting to show dividends now."

If Australia are to follow up this opening success and reach the Cup quarter finals they will have to beat the impressive Samoa or Portugal.

"I don't think we've beaten Samoa for years, they are very good sides so while I'm excited and happy for the guys I know that we've got to really focus for tomorrow."

Earlier on, Samoa scored four second-half tries to come from behind and beat a fine Portuguese performance, 26-5. Diego Mateus scored first for Portugal and they led 5-0 at the break but the Samoans hit back with four in the second half through Afioa'e Maieva, Lolo Lui, Uale Mai and Alafoti Fa'osiliva.

Off the back of their triumphant Hong Kong campaign, Nasoni Roko and Niumaia Rokobuli both scored two tries as Fiji came back from an early one-try deficit to run out 33-7 winners against Scotland. Scott Forrest put the Scots ahead after a minute but the islanders hit back strongly
Argentina beat France 14-7 with the final play of the match to cap a game of breathless intensity. The Pumas led 7-0 at the break through Martin Rodriguez's first try but Anthony Poujol levelled for the French and the match seemed destined to finish a draw before Rodriguez crossed for his brace in the dying seconds.

New Zealand and USA both opened with victories in Pool C. The Kiwis led 14-0 at half time after tries by Ben Souness and Zar Lawrence but Wales hit back through Will Harries. Julien Savea rounded a off a fine move to extend the NZ lead and Tim Mikkelson put the outcome beyond doubt before a final consolation for Jimmy Norris.

USA captain Kevin Swiryn scored a try with the final play of the match to clinch victory for the Eagles against Tonga, 17-14. Matt Hawkins and Justin Boyd clawed back Tonga's lead earned through Vaea Poteki's two tries before Swiryn cut through some lacklustre Tongan defence to win the match in the final flourish.
Notoriously slow starters Kenya and Series leaders South Africa both got off to winning starts in Pool D. Brothers Collins Injera and Humphrey Kayange touched down in either half for the Kenyans as they ran out 12-5 winners against a highly resilient and brave Japan in the opening match of the tournament. Tongan-born player Alisi Tupuailei, Japan’s leading scorer this season, scored late on for the Asian side.

Robert Ebersohn then scored two first half tries for South Africa, back on the ground where he helped the Boks to Cup success last year, to inspire them to a 28-7 victory in their opening match against the Cook Islands. Renfred Dazel and Vuyo Zangqa scored their other tries, while Adam Vardey touched down for the islanders' fine score.

With three events still to play - Adelaide, London and Edinburgh - South Africa currently lead the way in the World Series with 84 points, 16 clear of England (68) with Fiji (62), New Zealand (60) and Argentina (56) all in contention. There have already been four different Cup title winners this season, from four different continents.