Defending Sevens Series and reigning Wellington champions, Fiji, look the team to beat, though, having sauntered through their three games untroubled.

Series leaders South Africa and New Zealand also topped their pools unbeaten, whilst Samoa topped their group after outmuscling England in the final match of Pool C.

Home favourites New Zealand now face England in the pick of the quarter-finals.

IRB SEVENS, WELLINGTON - DAY ONE RESULTS/REPORTS:
(all time are local - GMT +13)

Pool A: Fiji, France, Portugal, USA

Defending Series champions Fiji proceed to day two unscathed and conceded just one try en route to a quarter-final against Canada. With William Ryder back to him impish best, the islanders were immediately into their stride in front of the Westpac's colourful crowd and had no problems in dispatching Portugal in their first match, Ryder's inventiveness and Naevo's physicality setting them on their way to a 42-0 win. Serevi's men then beat a spirited USA 43-0 and capped off the day with a convincing victory over France, who finished second in the pool.

Jacques Boussuge earlier came on to inspire a late comeback for France against the USA 17-14, before the French secured another tough win 22-14 against Portugal to set up the pool decider with the Fijians.

Fiji 42 Portugal 0
France 17 USA 14
Fiji 43 USA 0
France 22 Portugal 14
Portugal 26 USA 21
Fiji 47 France 7

Pool B: South Africa, Australia, Canada, Cook Islands

South Africa overcame the difficulty of fielding a newlook squad to finish unbeaten on day one. Paul Treu's men overcame Canada early on but not without a fight, Shane Thompson's side fronting up well to take an early lead before Mokoena, Van der Merwe and Antonius Verhoeven took the fight back to the aggressive Canadians and grind out a 24-10 win.

Australia fought off a strong Cook Island challenge but came unstuck in the crucial tie against Canada, the North Americans winning 26-12. The South Africans then did Canada a favour by beating Australia convincingly to send Thompson's men through on points difference.

South Africa 24 Canada 10
Australia 35 Cook Islands 17
South Africa 31 Cook Islands 12
Australia 12 Canada 26
Canada 12 Cook Islands 24
South Africa 27 Australia 7

Pool C: England, Samoa, Scotland, Papua New Guinea

Samoa proceed unbeaten from Pool C after a convincing win over third seeds England to cap off an impressive return to form. With Uale Mai again at the heart of their best efforts, the islanders built a strong lead and England's late rally was in vain.

Playing under a new coach Ben Ryan, England kicked off the day's play against auld enemy Scotland and withstood a gutsy display to win 33-12. Thom Evans and Calum Cusiter gave an added edge to Scotland's play all day but Michael Hills, Andrew Vilk and Daniel Grey were all tireless for England, who also beat Papua New Guinea.

Scotland's encounter against Samoa was one of the matches of the day, Uale Mai and his side cantering to a comfortable lead before Scott Forrest inspired the Scots to a fine comeback. Samoa held on for a 31-26 win, but Scotland's New Year form revival is remarkable. Earlier, the impressive Samoans also beat Papua New Guinea 26-0, Mikaele Pesamino grabbing a brace.

England 33 Scotland 12
Samoa 26 Papua New Guinea 0
England 22 Papua New Guinea 7
Samoa 31 Scotland 26
Scotland 17 Papua New Guinea
England 12 Samoa 19

Pool D: New Zealand, Argentina, Kenya, Tonga

Home favourites New Zealand survived the pressure of an expectant crowd to top their pool and set up a quarter final with England. The home side saw off Kenya early on, Zar Lawrence scoring twice in the 38-0 win, before negotiating a sterner examination by Tonga, building on a 7-5 half-time lead to seal an important win - a match also remarkable for pitting identical twin brothers, Edwin and John Cocker, against each other. New Zealand's final win sealed a disappointing day for Argentina.

The two biggest shock results of the day came earlier in Pool D with Tonga and Kenya both showing good pace and guile to also get the better of disappointing Argentina. The Pumas boast an array of attacking talent in Gauthier, Gomez Cora and Bosch but the Tongans weathered a late charge to win 14-12 early on before the Kenyans' pace proved more decisive as they sauntered to a 32-14 win to set up a crucial match against the islanders, which Kenya won with relative ease to sieze a first Cup quarter-final place since London 2006.

New Zealand 38 Kenya 0
Argentina 12 Tonga 14
New Zealand 19 Tonga 5
Argentina 14 v Kenya 32
Kenya 24 Tonga 7
New Zealand 33 Argentina 5

DAY TWO SCHEDULE:
M25 1/4 final Bowl 13:00 Portugal v Cook Islands
M26 1/4 final Bowl 13:22 Tonga v Papua New Guinea
M27 1/4 final Bowl 13:44 Scotland v Argentina
M28 1/4 final Bowl 14:06 Australia v USA
M29 1/4 final Cup 14:33 Fiji v Canada
M30 1/4 final Cup 14:55 New Zealand v England
M31 1/4 final Cup 15:17 Samoa v Kenya
M32 1/4 final Cup 15:39 South Africa v France

M33 SF Shield 16:10 Loser M25 v Loser M26
M34 SF Shield 16:32 Loser M27 v Loser M28
M35 SF Bowl 16:54 Winner M25 v Winner M26
M36 SF Bowl 17:16 Winner M27 v Winner M28
M37 SF Plate 17:38 Loser M29 v Loser M30
M38 SF Plate 18:00 Loser M31 v Loser M32
M39 SF Cup 18:35 Winner M29 v Winner M30
M40 SF Cup 19:00 Winner M31 v Winner M32

M41 Final Shield 19:30 Winner M33 v Winner M34
M42 Final Bowl 20:00 Winner M35 v Winner M36
M43 Final Plate 20:30 Winner M37 v Winner M38
M44 Final Cup 21:00 Winner M39 v Winner M40