IRB Sevens - Day One, Wellington

Pumas end Boks' run as Samoa stun NZ

There were a number of surprises on Day One at the Wellington Sevens - Round Three of the 2005/06 IRB Sevens series. Most of the top ranked teams recorded comfortable victories, but New Zealand drew against Samoa, while South Africa and Argentina conspired to lose matches they were expected to win.

Hosts New Zealand, looking for their fourth consecutive home title, played to a 5-all draw against the powerful Samoan team in the final match of the day. However, the Kiwis still topped Pool C on points difference.

The Kiwis, currently a lowly sixth in the IRB standings, 22 points behind the table-topping Fijians, need to win here in Wellington to get their campaign back on track.

They face Argentina in the quarter-finals, with England facing France, South Africa and Samoa going head-to-head, while Fiji have arguably the easiest quarter-final match against Australia.

New Zealand started with a convincing 28-5 win over Kenya and followed that up with a 41-7 hammering of the Cook Islands. But then played to a draw in a nail-biter against the Samoans - who had earlier accounted for Cook Islands (26-19) and Kenya (50-10).

The first day's action at Wellington's Westpac stadium was notable for the number of competitive matches it produced, with gutsy American and Canadian performances and Papua New Guinea, Niue and the Cook Islands from the Oceania region outdone in their fighting displays only by Tonga.

The courageous Tongans produced the result of the day in beating classy Argentina 21-12, only to be ultimately and cruelly denied a Cup quarter-final place by Argentina's rallying win over South Africa that took the Pumas through on points difference, a match that also signalled the start of the driving rain that affected the quality of the day's final four games.

South Africa, who started in impressive fashion with a 38-14 win over Tonga and a 38-5 win over the USA, still managed to top Pool D despite the loss to the Pumas.

Top seeds England and series leaders Fiji have progressed with 100 percent records to the Cup quarter-finals.

The biggest win of the early matches belonged to England, who smashed Papua New Guinea 64-0. England opened the Pool A action with a 12-5 win over Scotland, then smashed PNG and completed Day One

Fiji were also in rampant form against Niue, winning 52-0.

DAY ONE - RESULTS/REPORTS:

POOL A:
(England, Australia, Scotland, Papua New Guinea)

Top seeds England negotiated their safe passage from Pool A to the Cup quarter-finals with wins over Scotland, Papua New Guinea and Australia, unearthing another match-winner along the way in the pacy David Strettle.

The Rotherham flyer scored five tries in the first half against the South Sea Islanders and with Simon Amor and Ben Gollings again lynchpins,

England rode their luck to beat Scotland 12-5 early on and finally proved too strong for a solid-looking Australia, who also proceed to the Cup quarter-finals, largely thanks to the pacy interjections of Nick Reily.

M5: England 12-5 Scotland 
M6: Australia 24-10 Papua New Guinea 
M13: England 64-0 Papua New Guinea 
M14: Australia 22-12 Scotland 
M19: Scotland 34-12 Papua New Guinea 
M23: England 19-7 Australia 

POOL B:
(Fiji, France, Canada, Niue)

Waisale Serevi's Fiji topped Pool B with an almost faultless display and indeed look the side to beat.

They were pushed hard by Canada in their first match and had to come from behind to beat Spencer Robinson's men, but William Ryder once again proved the difference. Niue were put to the sword before a  comeback victory over France, who will rue costly mistakes.

The French do, though, also proceed from the pool and in Jacques Boussuge Thierry Janezcek has found that vital ingredient of pace to compliment the ever-industrious Renaud Dulin.

M3: Fiji 28-14 Canada 
M4: France 26-17 Niue 
M11: Fiji 52-0 Niue 
M12: France 19-7 Canada 
M18: Canada 38-7 Niue 
M22: Fiji 21-7 France 

POOL C:
(New Zealand, Samoa, Kenya, Cook Islands)

Gordon Tietjens' young New Zealand charges faced the onerous prospect of having to rise to an expectant home crowd in Pool C and, with captain Tafai Ioasa and Amasio Valence habitually outstanding and the likes of Cory Jane, Onosai Tafalima-Auva'a and DJ Forbes possible stars of the future, there may yet be a home town fairytale.

Wins over Kenya, Cook Islands and a final 5-5 draw against Samoa guaranteed the home side their place in the quarters, where they will be joined by Samoa, who also beat the Kenyans and the Cooks, although the latter did make them work mighty hard for their early 26-19 win.

M7: New Zealand 28-5 Kenya 
M8: Samoa 26-19 Cook Islands
M15: New Zealand 41-7 Cook Islands 
M16: Samoa 50-10 Kenya 
M20: Kenya 7-43 Cook Islands 
M24: New Zealand 5-5 Samoa 

POOL D:
(South Africa, Argentina, Tonga, USA)

Pool D was arguably the toughest of all and dominated early on by Paul Treu's South Africa side, with Stefan Basson the star.

As playmaker, Basson showed deceptive pace on a number of occasions to outstrip helpless defences and, with Fabian Juries also dangerous from the outset, the Boks look capable of anything on day two, although Treu will rue his side's inability to break down the Argentineans as the rain came down at day's end.

This pool also produced both the outstanding performance and tightest contest of the day, both involving Tonga. First the islanders delivered a telling blow against a very strong Puma side - Santiago Gomez Cora's fightback came too late - and then they held on to beat Al Carvelli's tenacious Americans 19-17, which left Argentina the task of beating South Africa to make the Cup quarters, which they duly did.

M1: South Africa 38-14 Tonga 
M2: Argentina 29-17 USA 
M9: South Africa 38-5 USA 
M10: Argentina 12-21 Tonga 
M17: Tonga 19-17 USA 
M21: South Africa 0-7 Argentina 

DAY TWO - SCHEDULE:
(All times are local - GMT+13)

M25: Bowl quarter-final - 13:00 - Scotland v Niue
M26: Bowl quarter-final - 13:22 - Tonga v Kenya
M27: Bowl quarter-final - 13:44 - Cook Islands v USA
M28: Bowl quarter-final - 14:06 - Canada v PNG
M29: Cup quarter-final - 14:33 - England v France
M30: Cup quarter-final - 14:55 - South Africa v Samoa 
M31: Cup quarter-final - 15:17 - NZ v Argentina
M32: Cup quarter-final - 15:39 - Fiji v Australia
M33: Shield semi-final - 16:10 - Loser M25 v Loser M26
M34: Shield semi-final - 16:32 - Loser M27 v Loser M28
M35: Bowl semi-final - 16:54 - Winner M25 v Winner M26
M36: Bowl semi-final - 17:16 - Winner M27 v Winner M28
M37: Plate semi-final - 17:38 - Loser M28 v Loser M30
M38: Plate semi-final - 18:00 - Loser M31 v Loser M32
M39: Cup semi-final - 18:35 - Winner M29 v Winner M30
M40: Cup semi-final 19:00 - Winner M31 v Winner M32
M41: Shield Final - 19:30 - Winner M33 v Winner M34
M42: Bowl Final - 20:00 - Winner M35 v Winner M36
M43: Plate Final - 20:30 - Winner M37 v Winner M38 
M44: Cup Final - 21:00 - Winner M39 v Winner M40