BlitzBoks march on; hosts thrill home crowd
DAY ONE WRAP: Hosts Canada raised the roof of BC Place in Vancouver - Round Six of the Sevens World Series.
A record-breaking 39,533 crowd cheered the home team to three stunning victories over France (31-21), Fiji (26-21) and Wales (29-7) to top Pool B and set up a quarterfinal clash with Spain on Sunday.
Encouraged by the huge support, the home team were on sensational form, running in 14 tries in three games to reach their first Series quarterfinal since London in 2019.
Reigning Canada Sevens champions South Africa continued their fine form following their victory at the previous round in Los Angeles, taking a hat-trick of wins to top Pool A.
The BlitzBoks were too strong for invitational team Japan (12-0), Argentina (17-5) and England who they beat by a convincing 38-0 score, running in six unanswered tries. England had already claimed their place in the quarterfinals courtesy of whitewash victories over Argentina (31-0) and Japan (29-0).
Series leaders New Zealand, who entered the sixth round of the World Rugby Sevens Series four points ahead of South Africa at the top of the standings, topped pool C with a perfect record of three victories on day one.
The All Blacks Sevens overcame Kenya 29-0, Spain 31-0 and Ireland 33-24.
Spain secured their place in the quarterfinals for only the seventh time in series history courtesy of a hard fought 28-26 win over Ireland. It is Spain’s first quarterfinal appearance since Sydney in 2019.
For the second tournament in succession, Australia topped their pool with maximum points following back-to-back wins against Samoa (40-12), Scotland (33-19) and United States (29-7).
The United States finished as runners up in Pool D to secure their place in the quarterfinals following earlier wins over Samoa (19-5) and Scotland (28-12).
Olympic Champions Fiji assured themselves of a quarterfinal birth in the final game of the day, overcoming France 26-17 to claim second place in Pool B and set up a mouth-watering quarterfinal clash with New Zealand.
The full quarterfinal line up sees South Africa take on the United States, New Zealand versus Fiji, Australia face
England and Canada take on Spain.
(See Sunday draw and Day One results below)
Sunday's Cup quarterfinals
South Africa v United States
New Zealand v Fiji
Australia v England
Canada v Spain
Day One results
Pool A
England 31 Argentina 0
South Africa 12 Japan 0
England 29 Japan 0
South Africa 17 Argentina 5
Argentina 14 Japan 14
South Africa 38 England 0
Pool B
France 21 Canada 31
Fiji 26 Wales 19
France 19 Wales 21
Fiji 21 Canada 26
Canada 29 Wales 7
Fiji 26 France 17
Pool C
Ireland 26 Spain 28
New Zealand 29 Kenya 0
Ireland 14 Kenya 12
New Zealand 31 Spain 0
Spain 17 Kenya 14
New Zealand 33 Ireland 24
Pool D
United States 19 Samoa 5
Australia 33 Scotland 19
United States 28 Scotland 12
Australia 40 Samoa 12
Samoa 19 Scotland 19
Australia 29 United States 7