Kiwis fly at the Sydney Sevens
The New Zealand men’s team have gone through the first day of the Sydney Sevens undefeated, while the women’s team have advanced to the semifinals by beating Canada.
The men’s team, who suffered a shock loss to USA in the Hamilton Sevens last weekend, comfortably brushed past Wales, Spain and Scotland.
Early yesterday they defeated Wales 27-14 in their opening pool match, scoring five tries, with Joseva Ravouvou bagging the first in the opening minute.
Tone Ng Shiu, Kurt Baker, Regan Ware, and Sione Molia scored the others.
For the Welsh, who were probably still celebrating their team’s victory over France in the Six Nations earlier in the day, it was a game they never really looked like winning.
Owen Jenkins and Ben Roach scored their tries, with one coming in each half.
New Zealand then romped past Spain 41-0 to continue their unbeaten streak against the European nation.
It was one-way traffic from the beginning, with Ware, Sam Dickson (2) and Jona Nareki all scoring first-half tries, as New Zealand jumped out to a 22-0 lead at the break.
Ravouvou scored after just 28sec of the second half, running in from the kick-off. There was another try from Ravouvou, the other side of a score by Kurt Baker.
The day was wrapped up with a 42-0 thrashing of Scotland.
Scotland turned the ball over early, New Zealand counter-attacked quickly, and it resulted in a try to Andrew Knewstubb.
Baker offloaded the ball to Ware for New Zealand’s second try, in the fifth minute, and just before the change of ends, Knewstubb bagged his second.
Scott Gregory picked up a couple of tries in the second half, while Nareki scored from the final play of the game.
❚ NEW ZEALAND’S women’s team are into the semifinals after a gripping 17-7 win over Canada.
Ruby Tui got them off to a great start by scoring in the third minute, but Canada showed they’re a resilient outfit and were rewarded with a try to Ghislaine Landry with a minute left in the opening half.
But New Zealand scored two tries in the ninth minute, to Sarah Hirini and Theresa Fitzpatrick to help take the score to 17-7.
Canada were able to put on plenty of pressure over the remainder of the game, but New Zealand’s goal line defence was superb.
They will play USA in the semifinals today.