London Sevens - Day One

England falter at home as big Joe runs riot

England's defeat in their last pool match against Samoa has left them to get to the final the hard way in tomorrow's play-offs. That result was the only shock in an otherwise predictable day of results in the IRB Sevens in London.

New Zealand's grip on the overall IRB Sevens crown looks tighter than ever at the end of day one. A generous Twickenham crowd of over 40,000 was generously entertained on a day that saw New Zealand, Fiji and South Africa proceed unbeaten.

Samoa's last-ditch win over England by 19-15 and France's earlier 24-19 defeat of Samoa to make the Cup quarter finals ahead of them on points difference rank as the real upsets, while the other story of the day must surely be Joe Rokocoko's try-scoring performance for a truly dominant New Zealand, well on their way to wrapping up the IRB Sevens series on day two here.

Rokocoko scored three tries in each of their first two games, Orene Ai'i producing the creative spur to set the prolific All Black wing on his way. If sharpening him up for the Lions tests was the aim here, Gordon Tietjens' job looks to already have been done, with the Paris tournament still to come next weekend.

In Pool A New Zealand outclassed Tunisia 27-0 and then Russia 36-7 - each put to the sword by Rokocoko - before proving too hot for Scotland, winning 36-0. In the same pool Scotland had to come from behind to beat Russia 26-14, before narrowly beating Tunisia 17-0, who themselves beat the Russians 35-14 to finish third.

Pool B saw exactly the same result as at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong with England, Samoa and France finishing level in match points with first and second decided by points difference. Rob Thirlby's last-gasp try for England against Samoa saw France through in the end at the islanders' expense.

England asserted early authority in their London title defence, Richard Haughton touching down twice early on as England beat France 29-0. David Lemi also scored three as Samoa started by beating Georgia 22-10 before going down to France. The last game of the day, though, held the final kick, Mike Friday's side beaten by the islanders but topping the group with a points difference of +53. France finish second with +14 ahead of Samoa on +11.

Pool C was governed by Fiji, who beat Australia 31-5 in the clincher. With Neumi Nanuku and the new Serevi-Ryder mid-field axis on song, Fiji strolled to a 42-0 victory over Canada and then an equally impressive 49-0 result against Italy before proving too strong for Australia. The Australians, meanwhile, had beaten Italy 21-7 and then the Canadians 33-0.

In pool D Argentina beat Kenya 38-0 and an impressive Portuguese second-string 24-17, while South Africa earlier beat Portugal 33-7 and then Kenya 24-12 to set up the pool decider, won by South Africa 24-21 in arguably the match of the day.

Day two quarter-final line up:

New Zealand v France
South Africa v Australia
Fiji v Argentina
England v Scotland

Day 1 results:

POOL A:
(New Zealand, Scotland, Tunisia, Russia)
New Zealand 27-0 Tunisia
Scotland 26-14 Russia
New Zealand 36-7 Russia
Scotland 17-0 Tunisia
Tnuisia 35-14 Russia
New Zealand 36-0 Scotland

POOL B:
(England, Samoa, France, Georgia)
England 29-0 France
Samoa 22-10 Georgia
England 33-5 Georgia
Samoa 19-24 France
France 38-0 Georgia
England 15-19 Samoa

POOL C:
(Fiji, Australia, Canada, Italy)
Fiji 42-0 Canada
Australia 21-7 Italy
Fiji 49-0 Italy
Australia 33-0 Canada
Canada 26-14 Italy
Fiji 31-5 Australia

POOL D:
(Argentina, South Africa, Kenya, Portugal)
Argentina 38-0 Kenya
South Africa 33-7 Portugal
Argentina 24-17 Portugal 
South Africa 24-12 Kenya
Kenya 19-12 Portugal
Argentina 21-24 South Africa