7.00pm
New Zealand struggled a little but were unbeaten in the pool games on the first day of the Los Angeles sevens rugby tournament today.
New Zealand beat Canada 34-12, Tonga 17-14 and Australia 39-12 and will meet England in one of the quarterfinals tomorrow.
One of the notable features of the pool
games, however, was Australia's failure to win a game. They were beaten 21-12 by Tonga, 26-12 by Canada and thumped by New Zealand in pool B, unable to make an impact for a second consecutive tournament after losing to Kenya in the Wellington sevens last weekend.
There were a number of other shock results, with Argentina relegating last week's finalists Fiji to second in pool D after a crushing win over the islanders, 33-5, and Samoa beating England 19-17 to win pool A.
The Samoans, like New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina were unbeaten in the pool rounds.
The Samoans were impressive with three fine wins -- notably over England in the day's final match -- while Canada's two wins in pool B also proved that the sevens game now enjoys more depth.
Fiji started the day well with a 33-7 win over Kenya -- who by their standards suffered a torrid day, also losing to Argentina and Chile.
South Africa started with a 35-0 win over Korea before overpowering Uruguay 59-0 and outplaying France.
England, for their part, were impressive in beating the hosts 40-0, before recording a 50-0 victory over Trinidad & Tobago, but the fact that they could not unlock Samoa's granite defence in the day's last game will be of concern to coach Joe Lydon.
New Zealand were made to work hard for their wins, opening with a 34-12 victory over an impressive Canadian outfit, before coming out on top in a gruelling match against Tonga. Australia offered less resistance in the day's penultimate match.
Tomorrow's quarterfinals:
Samoa v Canada, Argentina v France, South Africa v Fiji, NZ v England.
Top standings before the Los Angeles tournament: NZ 20, England 12, South Africa 12, Samoa 4
- NZPA
