England, the champions for past two years, crashed out of the Dubai Rugby Sevens after a shock loss to Portugal in their third and final Pool C match on Friday.

Fiji, who defeated New Zealand in the final of the opening leg of IRB Sevens Series in Australia, won all their matches in Pool A to advance to quarter-finals along with Kenya.

New Zealand were the other unbeaten team of the opening night — winning all three of their matches in Pool B.

Australia struggled again with just one win from three games in Pool D, 19-12 over USA. The Aussies drew 28-28 with eventual winners Canada and lost 7-0 to France.

But Pool C was the centre of attention as all four teams had four points going in to the last round of matches.

Portugal authored the biggest upset of the night when a late Pedro Leal penalty helped his side beat the fancied England 22-21 and reach the quarter-finals.

England had lost their opening match to South Africa 19-10, but remained in contention with a thrilling 19-17 win over Samoa.

Samoa had to depend on their superstar Lio Lolo hat-trick of tries to beat Portugal 24-19, but the Europeans showed they meant business when they upset South Africa 12-10 with a late try through Aderito Esteves.

In the final round of matches Portugal beat England and Samoa knocked out South Africa winning their last match 10-5.

In the quarter-finals on Saturday, Fiji take on France, while Samoa will be up against Wales.

Canada, who topped Pool D with eight points from their three matches, will take on Kenya, while New Zealand will be up against Portugal.

Kenya went through from Pool A with a 12-5 victory over Scotland and a 10-7 win against Spain. Fiji beat Spain 14-0, Scotland 22-14 and Kenya 14-10.

New Zealand scored a 14-7 victory over Wales, 31-14 win over Russia and 17-7 win over Argentina in Pool B.

Canada topped Pool D with a 20-0 win over France, 28-28 draw with Australia and a 26-7 win over the USA.