Kiwis off to a flying start

Juries and Cora join the 100 club

Favourites New Zealand made an impressive start to the defence of their title on Day One of the Wellington Sevens - Round Three on the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens circuit.

The Kiwis, who are also the current IRB Sevens champions, finished top of Pool B when they overpowered arch rivals Fiji in the main game of the day, recording a 26-7 (four tries to one) victory.

But for their troubles the hosts will face another tough Pacific Island outfit, Samoa, in the quarter-finals of the Cup competition on Day Two, Saturday.

Other Cup quarter-final match-ups sees England up against the Fijians - who like New Zealand share the lead with England in the 2004/05 IRB Sevens standings.

South Africa will face Australia and Argentina are up against Scotland in other quarter-final matches.

In the Bowl competition Canada face the USA, Tonga is up against Japan, France meet the Cook Islands and Kenya will play against Niue in the quarter-finals.

In their encounter with the Fijians New Zealand, who totally dominated territory (72 percent), opened the scoring in the second minute after Mosese Yabakitini was yellow carded. From the resultant penalty Tamati Ellison raced over for the first try. Two minutes later - just before Yabakitini returned to the playing field - Orene Ai'i went over for the second try.

And when Tanerau Latimer scored just before the break - which saw the Kiwis take a 19-0 lead into half-time - it was clear that the home side was on its way to victory. The second half saw each team score one try, but the Fijians never had enough to close that early gap.

Earlier the Kiwis recorded a clinical 40-7 win over Kenya, with captain Liam Messam leading by example, as Roy Kinikinilau ran in four of team's six tries. Kenya-ever the crowd-pleasers-were treated to the biggest cheer for their sole try by Victor Simiyu.

The Kiwis followed that up with a rousing 43-0 victory over America.

In the same pool Fiji came from behind to beat the brave USA side 24-14 and ultimately the Americans had no answer to the likes of Marika Vunibaka. Fiji beat the popular Kenyans 26-7 in their second match.

England began their Pool A campaign in equally positive fashion. Although Mike Friday's team fell behind to a Quentin Fyffe try for Canada, England responded with five of their own to win through 31-5. In their second match England were far more convincing, beating Niue 41-7.

But the big news for them was Ben Gollings becaming the highest points scorer in the history of the IRB Sevens. His try in the fifth minute against Niue meant the 24-year-old from Cornwall overtook the Fijian Sevens legend Waisale Serevi - who has scored 1033 points.

Gollings was thrilled with his achievement saying: "It was something I was aiming for in my career and to have got it today here in New Zealand is really good. Wellington is a fantastic place to play sevens, the atmosphere is really picking up as the day goes on and the rugby is awesome.

"I was trying not to think about it and just get on with the rugby, but it has been something I've looked to do it in my career.

"It's something I'm very proud of, but I also owe a lot of those points to the other guys - the final passes and the conversions of their tries."

Samoa overcame fellow South Sea islanders Niue 28-12 in the same pool and then accounted for Canada by a 17-5 (three tries to one) margin.

In their Pool decider England proved too strong for the Samoans, with tries by Ben Gollings, Ollie Phillips and Peter Richards (with Gollings adding three conversions) beating the Samoan tries of Jonathan Faamatuainu and Ofisa Treviranus.

Argentina's Santiago Gomez Cora became only the third player in IRB Sevens history to score 100 tries as the Pumas' deceptive lines and organisation proved too strong for Tonga in the first game of the day to win 41-0 in pool D.

The Pumas followed that up with 40-0 victory over Cook Islands.

Australia also got their Wellington campaign off to a winning start against the Cook Islands, although-as the 28-12 scoreline suggests-they didn't have it all their own way. But their 24-5 win over Tonga in their next match virtually secured them a place in the play-offs.

The Australians simply did not have enough gas in the tank and went down 15-7 to Argentina in their final pool match, leaving them with a tricky quarter-final against the difficult South African outfit.

South Africa's Fabien Juries also joined Karl Te Nana and Peter Miller in the 100 Club of try scorers as Paul Treu's side beat Scotland 31-7. South Africa were rarely troubled breaking out to 12-0 at half-time.

They added three further tries as Scotland failed to cope with the pacey South African backs.

With his first touch of the ball after replacing Eddie Fredericks, Juries blazed past Scotland's defence on his way to the record books - the first South African to score 100 tries in the Sevens.

The Scotland game was also memorable to Tobela Mdaka, who returned to the circuit after last representing Springbok Sevens in 2000. Mdaka also celebrated his come-back with a try against the Scots.

Coach Paul Treu said he was thrilled by the achievement of former team-mate Juries.

"I am very happy for him. As a senior player, he has always been an inspiration to the young players. Now he has shown them how to do it in a different way, leading by example, so to speak.," Treu said.

The Springboks were even more impressive in dismantling Japan 50-0, but in their final pool match they needed a hat-trick from flyer Eddie Fredericks to sneak to a 19-17 win over France.

France also proved too strong for Japan winning 21-12, but then came unstuck - losing 10-7 to an inspired Scotland side.

Results on Day One:
Argentina 41-0 Tonga
Australia 28-12 Cook Islands
South Africa 31-7 Scotland
France 21-12 Japan
England 31-5 Canada
Samoa 28-12 Niue
New Zealand 40-7 Kenya
Fiji 24-14 USA
Argentina 40-0 Cook Islands
Australia 24-5 Tonga
South Africa 50-0 Japan
France 7-10 Scotland
England 41-7 Niue
Samoa 17-5 Canada
New Zealand 43-0 USA
Fiji 26-7 Kenya
Tonga 42-0 Cook Islands
Scotland 31-12 Japan
Canada 26-10 Niue
Kenya 12-7 USA
Argentina 15-7 Australia
South Africa 19-17 France
England 21-10 Samoa
New Zealand 26-7 Fiji

Fixtures Day Two (Kick-off local time - GMT +13):

Bowl quarter-finals - 13.00 to 14.32:
Canada v USA
Tonga v Japan
France v Cook Islands
Kenya v Niue

Cup quarter-finals - 14.33 to 16.09:
England v Fiji
Argentina v Scotland
South Africa v Australia
New Zealand v Samoa

16.10 to 16.53 - Shield semi-finals
16.54 to 17.37 - Bowl semi-finals
17.38 to 18.34 - Plate semi-finals
18.35 to 19.29 - Cup semi-finals
19.30 - Shield Final
20.00 - Bowl Final
20.30 - Plate Final
21.00 - Cup Final