Samoa's Pesamino in dominant form
Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:53
Samoa's Mikaele Pesamino became the first player in more than four years to score five tries in a sevens match, a feat he achieved on Day One at the United States stop of the International Rugby Board World Series in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Pesamino scored eight tries in Samoa's first two matches, notching a hat-trick in a 41-12 victory over Scotland and five in a 29-12 triumph over Chile.
The most tries scored in a single day in the World Series remains at 10, by Fijian Vilimoni Delasau in Punta del Este in July 2000.
Samoa went undefeated on the day with a 19-7 win over Kenya to top their group and book a quarterfinal against Wales.
New Zealand, Fiji and England all emerged from the first day's pool play atop their groups.
Japan delivered the first upset of the tournament by defeating defending US Sevens champions Argentina 7-0.
In the same pool, England rallied to defeat Wales, then downed Japan 24-5 in a match that was 5-5 at the interval before drawing 12-12 with Argentina, who won the American edition last year when it was held in San Diego, California.
In the quarterfinals England will face Kenya, who finished second in pool C behind Samoa.
Fiji held off a determined challenge from World Series champions South Africa to preserve a 12-5 victory, and the Fijians denied the host United States a huge upset when they rallied from an 0-5 half-time deficit to seize a 14-12 victory.
Fiji looked more solid in a 26-12 victory over Canada as they set up a quarterfinal meeting with Australia.
South Africa, who notched convincing wins over the United States and Canada, will face pool A winners - and current World Series leaders - New Zealand.
Kiwi captain DJ Forbes led his side to a close victory over Australia at the end of the day, scoring the winning try in the 12-7 victory.
Both sides had opened up with victories over France and Guyana to secure their quarter-final berths.
New Zealand seized the lead in the season standings with victories in the first two tournaments in Dubai and South Africa.
Fiji triumphed in Wellington last weekend to narrow the gap atop the standings to four points.
AFP
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