England, New Zealand stumble in Singapore

Argentina shine on Day One

Argentina recorded their third successive victory over New Zealand on the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens circuit, when they beat them 12-7 in a Pool A match on Day One at the Standard Chartered Singapore Sevens on Saturday.

This victory, in the sixth leg of the IRB Sevens series, follows their victories over the Kiwis in the Final of LA Sevens and the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Sevens last week.

Another of the fancied teams to stumble on Day One was England, who needed a last-minute Neil Baxter try to come away with a fortuitous 14-all draw against France in their Pool B match.

France certainly won the bragging rights after a hard-fought match against bitter rivals England in their final Pool B match. Despite the match ending in a 14-all draw France topped the pool by virtue of a higher margin of points (21).

In the Cup quarter-finals on Sunday, the French will meet New Zealand, who finished second in Pool A.

Argentina's star in the Sevens Series continued its rise after the tough but well deserved 12-7 win against the defending series champions.

Fiji powered past Australia to top Pool D with a convincing 31-12 win to book a place in the Cup quarter-finals against Samoa.

South Africa brushed aside the challenge from Samoa in the final Pool C match and will meet second placed Pool D team Australia in the quarter-finals.

But it is the Kiwis who will have the biggest headache going into the play-off stages on Day Two on Sunday. Although facing France on the Sevens circuit would not normally constitute a major problem, here in Hong Kong the French have certainly taken it up a step or two.

Martial Molinier and Franck Laquet sounded the French intention with the first two tries against England, both converted by the effective Olivier Toulouze.

However, Rob Thirlby got the English back on track with a try in the ninth minute, with Ben Gollings successfully converting. Simon Amor converted Neil Baxter's try in the second half but the French denied them further attempts.

In the other big game, the final fixture of Day One, Argentina's Franciso Leonelli cancelled out Liam Messam's early try for New Zealand before scoring a second in the second half to clinch the victory for the South Americans.

Amasio Valence converted Messam's try, while Andres Romagnoli converted Leonelli's first try.

Earlier two tries in either half saw England off to a winning start in Saturday's opening Pool B match. The reigning Hong Kong champions beat Japan 28-0. The England-Japan game was played in soaring temperatures and high humidity, with captain Simon Amor scoring the opening try and Ben Gollings converting.

Phil Dawson's first-half touchdown, converted by Gollings, gave England a 14-0 interval lead, with Gollings also adding the extra points to a try from Cornish Express Rob Thirlby after the break. Pete Richards got England's fourth try, with Amor converting.

"We're fairly pleased with the performance as we coped quite well with the weather conditions," commented team manager John Elliott.

In their next match Hong Kong had the neutral fans on their feet by taking an early lead against England, but a Ben Gollings try rallied the English to a 26-5 win.

"We were dreadful, we just couldn't get it together until the second half," commented team manager John Elliott.

Gollings who converted his own try went on to convert two others after tries from Neil Baxter and Rob Thirlby. His final conversion after Thirlby's try moved him to joint second place in the overall IRB Sevens points scoring table with New Zealand's Amasio Valence on 880.

Swiaslae Serevi tops the points scoring table on 1009

Olivier Toulouze scored one try and converted five as France won the other Pool B match 35-7 against Japan.

Franck Laquet, Davy Larguet, Vincent Forgues and Julien Carraud scored the other tries for France. Ryohei Miki score Japan's solitary try which was converted by Hiroki Yoshida.

The result was never in doubt when Malaysia took on New Zealand in a Pool A match, but the minnows still gave their fans something to cheer about with a last-minute try and conversion.

Brad Fleming was the star of the match scoring four out of eight New Zealand tries as the Kiwis won 50-7. Rudi Wulf, Eric Rush, Anthony Tuitavake and Amasio Valence scored the other tries for the defending series champions.

Nathaniel Walker converted four tries while Valence converted another.

Scotland gave another gutsy display, but were unable to stop Argentina who are growing in strength in the Sevens series after their LA Sevens win.

The South Americans won 27-10 with two tries from Andres Romagnoli and one each from Federico Serra, Francisco Bosch and Francisco Leonelli. Romagnoli converted one try for Argentina while Andrew Turnbull and Calum Macrae scored the tries for Scotland.

In their crucial Pool C match against Samoa the South Africans were made to work hard, with the Pacific Islanders going ahead in the fourth minute through a Uale Mai try.

But the star player in the South African side, Kabamba Floors, scored twice - once in each half - as the Springboks bounced back to secure a 28-17 win. Other South Africa tries came from Jose van Rensburg and Fabian Juries, with Jaco van Schalkwyk (three) and Mzwandile Stick adding the conversions.

For Samoa Mai, Mark Tanuvasa and Sailosi Tagicakibau scored, with Roger Warren adding a conversion.

Earlier hosts Singapore failed to score a try in their second Pool C match when they were beaten 55-0 by South Africa. Juries, Stefan Basson and Stick scored two tries each, with Bennie Adams, Akona Ndungane and Floors scoring the others.

Stick converted three of the tries, while Van Schalkwyk and Basson converted two others.

The earlier Pool C match between Samoa and Canada were decided by tries as both teams failed to convert.

Canada took the lead with a try by Tim Douglas in the 4th minute, but Samoa hit back with tries from David Lemi, Jaco van Schalkwyk, David Alo and Uale Mai.

Korea defeated USA 19-7 to clinch third place in Pool D and will meet Singapore in the Bowl quarter-finals Sunday. Host Singapore were beaten 59-0 by Canada to finish fourth in Pool C.

Canada finished third in Pool C and will face USA, fourth in Pool D. Scotland who defeated Malaysia 54-0 to finish third in Pool A will face fourth placed Pool B team Hong Kong.

Fourth placed Pool A team Malaysia will face Japan who finished third in Pool B after defeating Hong Kong 27-12.

Results from Day One:
Game 1: Fiji 31 Korea 7
Game 2: Australia 28 USA 0
Game 3: South Africa 33 Canada 5
Game 4: Samoa 54 Singapore 7
Game 5: England 28 Japan 0
Game 6: France 42 Hong Kong 0
Game 7: New Zealand 31 Scotland 14
Game 8: Argentina 43 Malaysia 0
Game 9: Fiji 21 USA 12
Game 10: Australia 19 Korea 14
Game 11: South Africa 55 Singapore 0
Game 12: Samoa 20 Canada 5
Game 13: England 26 Hong Kong 5
Game 14: France 35 Japan 7
Game 15: New Zealand 50 Malaysia 7
Game 16: Argentina 27 Scotland 10
Game 17: Korea 19 USA 7
Game 18: Canada 59 Singapore 0
Game 19: Japan 27 Hong Kong 12
Game 20: Scotland 54 Malaysia 0
Game 21: Fiji 17 Australia 7
Game 22: South Africa 28 Samoa 17
Game 23: England 14 France 14
Game 24: New Zealand 7 Argentina 12

Day Two fixtures:
Game 25: Bowl quarter-final Scotland v Hong Kong, 03.30
Game 26: Bowl quarter-final Korea v Singapore, 03.52
Game 27: Bowl quarter-final Canada v USA, 04.14
Game 28: Bowl quarter-final Japan v Malaysia, 04.36
Game 29: Cup quarter-final Argentina v England, 05.05
Game 30: Cup quarter-final Fiji v Samoa, 05.27
Game 31: Cup quarter-final South Africa v Australia, 05.49
Game 32: Cup quarter-final France v New Zealand, 06.11
Game 33: Shield semi-final Loser Match 25 v Loser Match 26, 06.42
Game 34: Shield semi-final Loser Match 27 v Loser Match 28, 07.04
Game 35: Bowl semi-final Winner Match 25 v Winner Match 26, 07.26
Game 36: Bowl semi-final Winner Match 27 v Winner Match 28, 07.48
Game 37: Plate semi-final Loser Match 29 v Loser Match 30, 08.10
Game 38: Plate semi-final Loser Match 31 v Loser Match 32, 08.32
Game 39: Cup semi-final Winner Match 29 v Winner Match 30, 08.54
Game 40: Cup semi-final Winner Match 31 v Winner Match 32, 09.16
Game 41: Shield Final Winner Match 33 v Winner Match 34, 10.00
Game 42: Bowl Final Winner Match 35 v Winner Match 36, 10.30
Game 43: Plate Final Winner Match 37 v Winner Match 38, 11.00
Game 44: Cup Final Winner Match 39 v Winner Match 40, 11.30