Eagles, Pumas through to Wellington Cup quarters

Argentina and the USA have both qualified for the Cup knock-outs after each finished in second spot in their pools on day one of the Wellington 7s. While upsets were hard to come by, there were a few scares, with Samoa unlucky to finish at the bottom of the highly competitive Pool C despite knocking off England in their final match of the day.

Once again Fiji looked a class apart and swept away all three challengers with ease, while New Zealand and South Africa both looked in cracking form before a titanic match between the two ended in a last second win for the host nation after a trademark offload from Sonny Bill Williams put Joe Webber in for the deciding score.

The Eagles got things started for the Americas in the second match of the day with a win over Samoa, but it wasn’t easy. Looking short of their best, they needed a Carlin Isles try at the death to steal a result. England were decided better and Mike Friday was not a happy man with the performance, but they got their act together to outclass France and reserve a Cup quarter-final. Unfortunately if they hope to progress further they’ll have to get by tournament favorites Fiji to do so.

Argentina just scraped by Wales in their first match, with a Fernando Luna try proving the difference. Japan proved little more than a speed bump, but Fiji were just too big, too fast. They now face England in the Cup quarters in what should be a very close match.

Meanwhile Canada’s woes continue as they started their day with a poor showing against Kenya, coming out flat and conceding five tries to only one of their own. The improved as the day went on, with a respectable showing in defeat against Australia followed by a cruise control win over an exhausted Portugal side. They will contest the Bowl, and will start their second day redemption tour against Russia, who very nearly snuck one past Scotland in the second-last game of the day.

All matches are streamed live on the official HSBC World Sevens Series page.

DAY 1 RESULTS

POOL A
New Zealand 38 – 7 Russia
South Africa 28 – 7 Scotland
South Africa 54 – 0 Russia
New Zealand 27 – 7 Scotland
Scotland 19 – 17 Russia
South Africa 14 – 19 New Zealand

POOL B
Argentina 19 – 12 Wales
Fiji 45 – 7 Japan
Argentina 31 – 14 Japan
Fiji 33 – 7 Wales
Wales 33 – 28 Japan
Argentina 10 – 31 Fiji

POOL C
France 14 – 17 England
USA 24 – 20 Samoa
France 28 – 12 Samoa
USA 5 – 19 England
England 14 – 17 Samoa
France 21 – 29 USA

POOL D
Kenya 31 – 7 Canada
Australia 19 – 12 Portugal
Kenya 26 – 5 Portugal
Australia 26 – 22 Canada
Canada 42 – 7 Portugal
Kenya 12 – 17 Australia

DAY 2 OPENING FIXTURES (Saturday, January 30)

17:30 EST – BOWL QF – Scotland vs Portugal
17:52 EST – BOWL QF – France vs Japan
18:14 EST – BOWL QF – Canada vs Russia
18:36 EST – BOWL QF – Wales vs Samoa

19:02 EST – CUP QF – New Zealand vs Kenya
19:24 EST – CUP QF – England vs Argentina
19:46 EST – CUP QF – Australia vs South Africa
20:08 EST – CUP QF – Fiji vs USA