Rugby sevens: NZ cruise into quarters

Save Tokula heads for the tryline against France. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand were to meet Kenya overnight in the quarter-finals of the Dubai rugby sevens after three comfortable victories in pool play.

In the other quarter-finals, defending series champions South Africa meet Fiji, England come up against Argentina and Samoa will play Italy.

New Zealand look likely to meet South Africa in the first semifinal, assuming they beat the fast-improving Kenyans, while in the second of the semifinals the odds are on a England-Samoa tie.

The New Zealanders settled into their work well in their opening pool match, recording a 38-10 win over Argentina despite a scratchy first half.

Sherwin Stowers opened the scoring with a try inside two minutes, the first of four times he crossed in the game, but Argentina bounced back soon after with tries in quick succession to Nicolas Bruzzone and Hernan Olivari.

Just when Argentina looked like taking a 10-5 lead into halftime, Stowers tied the scores 10-10.

New Zealand upped the tempo as the second spell drew to a close, with two more Stowers tries inside three minutes before Ben Souness and Kurt Baker crossed.

It was a similar story in their match against France, although in a more consistent effort, New Zealand crossed for three first-half tries and looked in control at 19-5 up going into the second half.

In the second spell, France's only points came in the closing minutes as New Zealand closed out a 33-10 win. Save Tokula and Stowers both crossed twice, with Zar Lawrence also touching down.

In their final pool match, New Zealand kept Portugal scoreless. They ran in three tries in each half in cruising 34-0, captain DJ Forbes and Souness notching up two tries apiece while Stowers and Lote Raikabula added one each.

"Argentina stretched us in the first half but then we were able to pull away and express ourselves," Forbes said.

New Zealand Rugby Union high performance player development manager Tony Philp said that, overall, it was a satisfactory day's work.

"We've played pretty well today. We've got some experienced players and some young guys who debuted last year and have come through now. And some youth who have also brought energy to the team."

Philip said the opening tournament of the IRB sevens series had shown a real improvement in the standard of play.

"I think in the past there's probably been three or four dominant teams and I'm really surprised that we're starting to see some close games, and you can't really know who's going to win some of them."