HSBC Men's World Rugby Sevens Series - Singapore - Day 1 Wrap Up

The opening day of the Singapore leg in the Men's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series saw USA, New Zealand and Australia remain unbeaten.

Apart from the three unbeaten teams, South Africa, Samoa, Argentina, Fiji and Ireland have also made it to the quarter-finals stage.

Pool A:

USA kick-started their campaign with a nervy win over Kenya as Perry Baker and Anthony Omondi exchanged first half tries as the scores were levelled 5-5 at the end of the opening half. With the full-time approaching, Kevon Williams with a 11th minute try followed by a conversion from Lucas Lacamp put USA in the front which proved just enough despite Edmund Anya's touchdown. Nevertheless, they followed the campaign with a 33-12 win over Canada before edging out South Africa 7-12 to take the pole position in the table.

South Africa's 31-5 and 26-5 wins over Canada and Kenya saw them finish second in the table. Kenya and Canada had to settle for the third and fourth places with five and three points.

Pool B:

Wins over Samoa and Spain, put Australia in a dominant position but their biggest win came against England, who slumped to a 0-40 defeat. England started their campaign with a 19-14 win over Spain but a 5-31 defeat to Samoa meant they missed out on the quarter-finals with the latter sneaking to the second position. Spain with three defeats finished at the bottom.

Pool C:

Having started the competition with a tight win of 12-10 over Argentina, New Zealand also defeated Scotland with a 12-point margin before sealing the top place finish with a convincing 43-5 win over Wales. With Argentina and Scotland winning a game apiece, they had to face each other in the knock out game in which Argentina registered a 29-14 victory.

Pool D:

The final group saw three teams finishing with seven points. Nevertheless, Fiji and Ireland had better point differences as compared to France as they sneaked into the top eight. Fiji's 62-0 win over Japan proved decisive for them while Ireland had a 12-5 win over France which helped them in getting the second posiition.

Quater-finals Fixtures:

Australia v Argentina
Fiji v South Africa
New Zealand v Samoa
USA v Ireland