Australia have made the perfect start to their Hong Kong Sevens campaign, defeating Samoa 22-19 in the opening match of the tournament.
Henry Hutchison did the damage for Andy Friend’s side, scoring two tries, while a late flurry from Samoa added some respectability to the scoreline but Australia, who next face South Korea before wrapping up their pool games against England, were never in any real danger.
New Zealand overcame the disruption of losing captain Scott Curry for the entire tournament to beat Wales 19-7 in their opening match.
Curry withdrew from the three-day event on Friday because of flu, forcing the team into a last-minute reshuffle.
Sam Dickson was promoted into the squad for the stricken Curry while DJ Forbes took over as captain and marked his promotion by scoring one of his team’s three tries.
Fiji, who have beaten New Zealand in the last two Hong Kong finals, made an ominous start by thrashing Japan 36-0, spoiling a landmark day for Asian rugby after Japan’s women pulled off a major upset by beating South Africa to win the women’s final.
Fiji, the Olympic champions, have won a record 16 Hong Kong titles and opened the scoring after less than a minute when Jerry Tuwai scored the first of his two tries in another Pool C encounter.
England, last-round winners in Vancouver, were also impressive in crushing South Korea 52-0 in Pool A. Oliver Lindsay-Hague and Charlton Kerr bagged two tries apiece but they were outshone by Dan Norton, whose try lifted his career tally to 245, overtaking Kenya’s Collins Injera as the all-time leading try-scorer in the world series.
Injera did not add to his tally of 244 as Kenya surprisingly lost to Canada in Pool B.
Kenya looked to have earned a late draw when Nelson Oyoo scored under the crossbar with less than a minute to go to tie the score at 14-14, but ill-discipline let them down as Canada stole the win 17-14 with a penalty from Nathan Hirayama after the siren.
World series leaders South Africa defeated France 17-10 in Pool B, Argentina beat Scotland 22-14 in Pool D, and the United States beat Russia 14-7 in Pool D.
