England end BlitzBok run
South Africa's unbeaten run on the IRB Sevens World Series circuit came to an abrupt end in Wellington on Friday.
The BlitzBokke, who won the previous two tournaments in Port Elizabeth and Las Vegas, were beaten by England in their final pool match on Day One of Round Five of the IRB Series.
Fiji, England, Canada and Australia won all three of their pool matches to progress to the Cup quarterfinals at the end of an enthralling day of the 2014 Wellington Sevens.
Ben Ryan's Fiji defeated hosts New Zealand 12-7 in their first match, before Samisoni Viriviri scored twice in their 26-5 defeat of France and Henry Seniloli scored 15 points in a 45-12 victory against Spain to set up a quarter final with Argentina.
Defending Wellington Sevens champions England beat Portugal 36-7 and Wales 21-7 with Dan Norton crossing for his 150th career try, before they proved too strong for the current Series leader South Africa in a 19-5 win – thanks to two tries from the Series' leading points scorer and England captain Tom Mitchell.
Simon Amor's side will face Samoa on Day Two while the BlitzBokke will meet Australia after Cameron Clark kicked another decisive penalty drop-goal to give Mick O'Connor's side a 15-12 win over Samoa that saw them top their pool.
Peter Schuster had earlier scored three tries for Australia as they beat Tonga 33-5 and he added his third of the tournament in their 24-0 defeat of Kenya on an impressive day for the Gold Coast Sevens runners-up.
Having finished a best-ever third in Las Vegas, Canada looked full of confidence as they beat Argentina 24-5 in their pool decider with the returning Ciaran Hearn scoring two second-half tries to secure the victory.
Earlier Harry Jones had scored a brace in a 17-14 win over Scotland and two tries from Conor Trainor ensured they beat neighbours USA 29-12 and they will face New Zealand.
The hosts bounced back from their opening defeat to Fiji to beat Spain 55-0, thanks to two tries from Tim Mikkelson and a Sherwin Stowers hat-trick, before beating France in the final match of day one 47-0, Stowers scoring his fourth of the tournament, captain DJ Forbes adding a brace and Akira Ioane scoring his first-ever Series try.
In the Bowl on day two Wales will play Tonga, Scotland meet Spain, Kenya await Portugal and France take on the United States.
Day Two fixtures
(Kick-off is local time – GMT plus 13 hours)
Bowl quarterfinals:
Wales v Tonga (13.00)
Scotland v Spain (13.22)
Kenya v Portugal (13.44)
France v United States (14.06)
Cup quarterfinal
England v Samoa (14.33)
Canada v New Zealand (14.55)
Australia v South Africa (15.17)
Fiji v Argentina (15.39)
Day One results:
Pool A:
South Africa 5-19 England
Wales 45-19 Portugal
England 21-7 Wales
South Africa 27-5 Portugal
England 36-7 Portugal
South Africa 26-0 Wales
Pool B:
New Zealand 47-0 France
Fiji 45-14 Spain
France 5-26 Fiji
New Zealand 55-0 Spain
France 21-15 Spain
New Zealand 7-12 Fiji
Pool C:
Canada 24-5 Argentina
Scotland 19-19 United States
Argentina 17-12 Scotland
Canada 29-12 United States
Argentina 19-14 United States
Canada 17-14 Scotland
Pool D:
Samoa 12-15 Australia
Kenya 40-7 Tonga
Australia 24-0 Kenya
Samoa 31-7 Tonga
Australia 33-5 Tonga
Samoa 24-12 Kenya
