Australia was put down 24-12. New Zealand came from behind to edge South Africa 12-7 when Amanaki Nicole used lineout ball to swing into a gap and send Cody Vai clear to the corner for the match-winning try.
Sevens world series leader New Zealand took a big step toward Olympic Games qualification by beating rivals Australia and South Africa in Singapore on Saturday. New Zealand will become the second men’s team, after host France, to secure a place in the Paris Games next year if it can win the Singapore Sevens on Sunday for the first time in 18 years.
The new Hong Kong champion reached the quarterfinals after sweeping its pool. Co-captain Sione Molia celebrated his 50th world series tournament with a pair of tries the first after 13 seconds as Australia was put down 24-12. New Zealand came from behind to edge South Africa 12-7 when Amanaki Nicole used lineout ball to swing into a gap and send Cody Vai clear to the corner for the match-winning try.
Argentina, France and Samoa also ended the first day unbeaten. Second in the series, Argentina enjoyed a big win against fellow Olympic contender Britain. Argentina came from 12-5 down at halftime, then 17-12 down in the second half to draw with a Marcos Moneta intercept try. Gaston Revol, playing his 96th tournament, converted to win the game 19-17.
Britain was the pool runner-up only by beating Japan 19-17 after a late converted try by Api Bavadra from a Robbie Ferguson crosskick, and a late Freddie Roddick try to beat Ireland 14-7. William Iraguha scored France’s key last scores to beat Kenya 26-19 and draw with the United States 26-26.
A week after reaching the Hong Kong quarters, the U.S. lost to Uruguay for the first time since 2006 by 24-21 on a last-second penalty by Guillermo Lijtenstein. The Americans needed to beat France by seven points to advance but blew a 21-12 lead and had the ball at the end only to concede a game-ending penalty near the French 22.
Samoa ended a 15-match losing streak to Fiji in convincing fashion 28-7 with a pair of Paul Scanlan tries. Samoa held off Spain 28-24 after leading 28-7 and saw off former champion Canada 39-7. Fiji, the defending champion, will play France in the quarterfinals. New Zealand has Britain, and Samoa faces Uruguay. Argentina lined up Australia, which opened the day by crushing South Africa 19-0 for only the third time the latter has been blanked this season.
Source : Republicworld.com
