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KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's imperious first-day form continued in today's quarterfinals of the International Rugby Board sevens tournament here with a 40-5 thrashing of Wales.
Trailing 0-5 late in the first half, the hosts scored six unanswered tries to set up a semifinal later today against Australia.
New Zealand's path to a third consecutive tournament win became less rocky when arch rivals Fiji and South Africa were both upset in the quarterfinals by Samoa and Tonga respectively, who will meet in an all-Pacific semifinal.
Captain Jonathan Edwards got Wales off to a dream start when he crashed over in the corner but they couldn't halt the black tide set in motion by tries to Victor Vito and Lote Raikabula before halftime.
The outstanding Raikabula grabbed a second after the break while the other tries went to Edwin Cocker, Tomasi Cama and Steven Yates.
The speedy Australians outclassed Scotland 31-7 to prove they will be no pushovers against the New Zealanders.
Kacey Mitchell and Tim Wright bagged tryscoring doubles for the Australians, with the other going to Blair Connor, arguably the fastest player on show at Westpac Stadium this weekend.
Upsets were the order of the day yesterday and there was no change today as South Africa, who had cruised effortlessly through pool play, didn't adjust to the abrasive Tongan style in going down 10-14.
Fiji never recovered from the early sinbinning of captain Etonia Naba for the use of an elbow.
During his two minutes on the sideline defending champions Samoa crossed twice, establishing a 19-0 lead at halftime.
The second spell was all Fiji but a late missed conversion that would have levelled the scores proved costly.
- NZPA
