Rugby Player

In making a winning start, New Zealand was largely untested in their Wellington Sevens rugby tournament campaign today. The hosts put in a more accomplished display to overwhelm Papua New Guinea 45-0, after a scrappy, disjointed effort to down Scotland 29-12 in their opening match.

Late tonight, they are to face a pool-deciding showdown against Argentina who struggled to subdue Papua New Guinea and made hard work out of beating Scotland. At this tournament, Coach Gordon Tietjens has a history of unearthing stars and in the hot-stepping Buxton Popoalii; he may have added another to that list.

In an attempt to get more game time, the fullback left Wellington for Otago and showed capital fans what they were missing with an elusive display. With Scotland dominating possession, the hosts, who have not won the tournament since 2008, started slowly. At halftime, after tries to playmaker Tomasi Cama and flyer Frank Halai, they led by 10-0.

After the resumption, emerging talent Declan O’Donnell stepped past two defenders to extend their lead and Halai added his second before Buxton Popoalii crossed late on. To grab second-half tries to Andrew Skeen and Michael Fedo, Scotland managed to expose some defensive shortcomings in the inexperienced New Zealand lineup.

After the break, Declan O’Donnell displayed a neat sidestep and a turn of pace to score early and Halai and Popoalii ensured there was never any danger of a loss. With stocky Scot Andrew Skeen bursting away with three to go, at 17-0 the Kiwis will be concerned they did not finish the job.

Australia, South Africa and England all enjoyed comfortable wins, while in other first round matches defending champions Fiji cruised to 42-0 triumph over France. Samoa trailed Kenya 14-5 at halftime in the first game of the tournament, but after the break they scored three quick tries to ensure an early boil over was averted.

Despite reports of playmaker William Ryder making a return proving false, Fiji impressed with a 42-0 drubbing of France and a 38-0 win over Canada. The day before the tournament, Ryder appeared on the official team sheet, but he was in fact injured in a lead up tournament in Fiji.

In other notable results, almost unbelievably, the Cook Island’s went within a whisker of toppling England when they led 17-0 at halftime through tries to Turori Matutu, Sailosi Nagi and Koiatu. To get the English home, it took replacement Isoa Damudamu and a try with a minute to go to Matt Turner, 17-14 in one of the more dramatic matches of the day.

Argentina overcomes a stubborn Papua New Guinea 14-10 in the other match in New Zealand’s pool.

Samoa nearly stumbled in the first match of the tournament before narrowly beating Kenya 24-21. Elsewhere, most of the opening pool matches went to script.