NZ rusty in opening sevens wins

New Zealand will play Argentina in the quarterfinals of the Singapore Sevens, but the Kiwis were far from impressive in two of their pool wins.

Coach Gordon Tietjens' side overcame Canada, China and France in pool D.

New Zealand conceded soft tries with the Canadians and Chinese both crossing New Zealand's tryline twice.

Tietjens wasn't happy with his side's defence and said they needed to win more ball.

"We are conceding ball at the set areas and have to be more hungry and start to dominate, because possession is huge," Tietjens said.

The extreme heat and humidity also took its toll although Tietjens felt more so with the mental side of the game.

"Physically we are there, we are very fit but it's a mental challenge getting up for it."

China were thrashed 45-nil by France in their opening game but were a different side against New Zealand in the first half.

After Alando Soakai had scored the game's first try in the second minute, China defended well and then broke out for a neat score to level it up.

But just before the break Charles Baxter scored and then Soakai grabbed his second after sustained pressure to put New Zealand 17-7 up at half-time.

New Zealand ran away with the game in the second spell with Dwayne Sweeney bagging two tries and Hayden Reid, Cory Jane and captain Tafai Ioasa also getting on the scoresheet.

South Africa or Argentina loomed as New Zealand's quarterfinal opponents tomorrow.

- NZPA