New Zealand kicked off their title defence at the Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens in impressive fashion by beating last weekend's Dubai champions England to proceed unbeaten on day one in George.

Hosts South Africa and Wales were the only other sides to win all three of their pool matches in the second leg of the 2010/11 HSBC Sevens World Series.

Earlier, Fiji's Josefa Bole scored the 25,000th try since the inception of the World Series in 1999, as they drew 14-14 with great rivals Samoa.

Cup Quarterfinals
Wales v Samoa
South Africa v England
New Zealand v Argentina
Fiji v Australia

Bowl Quarterfinals
SCOTLAND v NAMIBIA 
PORTUGAL v KENYA
RUSSIA v ZIMBABWE
UNITED STATES v FRANCE

Pool A – AUS, WAL, SCO, FRA
Wales maintained their 100% record on day one with victory against France in their final pool match of day one. Aaron Shingler was the star, scoring four tries in the 29-12 victory. They had earlier begun their campaign with 33-15 and 19-7 victories against Australia and Scotland. Rugby World Cup Sevens winner Richie Pugh, Ifan Evans and Tom Isaacs all scored against their European opponents after they had beaten Australia for just the third time in 23 meetings. 

It was the second time Australia and Wales had met in a week, Michael O'Connor's side winning in Dubai, but tries from Pugh, Rhys Shellard, Evans, Rhodri Davies and Shingler powered the Welsh to success.

Australia reached the Cup quarter finals with victories in their other two Pool A matches. Captain Bernard Foley scored their first try against France, before Tevita Kuridrani, Trent Dyer and Hamish Angus all helped secure the win. Jonathon Lance, Gregory Jelooudev and Angus crossed in their 21-7 victory over Scotland.

Graham Shiel’s young Scotland side won a close encounter with France with tries from Michael Fedo and James Fleming picking up where he left off in Dubai with two tries in the 21-12 victory.

Pool B – SAM, FIJ, USA, NAM
Samoa and Fiji ended day one with eight points each after the two Pacific giants drew 14-14. Fautua Otto and Simaika Mikaele had given the current Sevens World Series champions Samoa a 14-0 lead, but tries from Josefa Bole, scoring the 25,000th try in the history of the Sevens World Series, and Seremaia Burotu drew the scores level after the buzzer had sounded.

They had both earlier scored seven tries against Namibia, and each had to come from behind against Dubai Sevens Cup quarter finalists USA. Mile Pulu put USA ahead against Fiji, before Burotu scored his second hat-trick of day one in their 43-5 victory.

Pulu and captain Matt Hawkins had also given Al Caravelli's side the lead against Samoa, but Alafoti Fa'osiliva and Ofisa Treviranus combined brilliantly for the following three tries. Otto added their fourth, before Nu'u Punimata and NFL convert Miles Craigwell set up a thrilling finish as Samoa held on to win 24-22.

Burotu scored the first hat-trick of day one, and Nikola Matawalu scored twice during their victory against Namibia, but the biggest cheer of the match came when Attie du Plessis scored Namibia's consolation try in their 47-7 defeat.

USA ensured they finished third in Pool B after beating Namibia 33-7 thanks to two tries from Roland Suniula. We can all look forward to a repeat of last week’s Cup semi final between the two Pacific Island giants at the end of day one.

Pool C – NZL, ENG, KEN, RUS
Defending South Africa Sevens champions, New Zealand, beat the 2010 Dubai Sevens champions England to top Pool C at the end of day one. Declan O'Donnell, Frank Halai, captain DJ Forbes and Jackson Ormond all scored for Gordon Tietjens' side as they avenged a Cup semi final defeat at the hands of England last week.

Earlier they proved too strong for Kenya and Russia as they recorded 47-0 and 33-7 victories in their opening two Pool C matches. Tim Mikkelson scored twice against the African side, before Jack McPhee crossed for two tries against Russia.

England also beat the two teams, Russia 19-5 thanks to tries from Dan Norton (two) and Tom Powell, and Kenya 21-5. Russia beat Kenya 34-5 in their final pool match to finish third in Pool C thanks to Vladimir Ostroushko's two tries.

Pool D – RSA, ARG, POR, ZIM
The partisan George crowd enjoyed South Africa's opening day, 29-5, 38-0 and 33-7 victories over Argentina, Portugal and African neighbours Zimbabwe. Captain Kyle Brown scored twice against Tomaz Morais' side in their first match, with Paul Delport, making his first appearance of the Series, pulling the strings.

Cecil Afrika scored two tries against Zimbabwe, taking his tally for the Series to 13, before Delport, Sibusiso Sithole (two) and Brown crossed against Los Pumas.

Argentina won their opening two matches to reach the Cup quarter finals after beating Portugal 26-0, Joaquin Todeschini scoring twice, and Zimbabwe 24-12. Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe's team met the African side for the third time in a week, with Argentina winning 24-12, Diego Palma scoring two of Argentina's four tries.

Gardener Nechironga scored twice in Zimbabwe's final match against Portugal, but it was not enough as the European side won 26-19 to finish third in Pool D.