PARIS, July 27 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand, Argentina, and Fiji led the way on the opening day of action at the Rugby Sevens at the Paris Olympics, held in front of almost 70,000 spectators at Stade de France. Pre-tournament favorite France, however, stumbled out of the blocks.
Pool B's Australia and Samoa opened the tournament in front of an electric atmosphere. The fans were rewarded for their energy with an equally energetic clash.
Dynamic back play from Samoa gave the Pacific nation an early lead before Australia hit back with four unanswered tries. A consolation try in the final play of the game left the score 21-14 to the Wallabies. Australia followed up their win against Samoa with another confident 21-7 win against Kenya.
Australia's main rivals in Pool B, Argentina, also started strongly against a spirited Kenya side. Booed onto the field by the partisan French crowd due to the nation's recent soccer rivalry with the host nation, Argentina immediately fell behind against the East African team.
The strong home support for Kenya carried them to a halftime lead. However, in the second half, Argentina regained their focus and began to show the quality that led them to second place in the overall World Rugby Sevens Series before securing a 31-12 win.
Argentina's momentum continued into their second game against Samoa, winning 28-12. Despite conceding late tries, Argentina overcame a hostile crowd to finish the first day as one of the standout contenders in Paris.
The wins for Argentina and Australia see both nations qualify for the knockout stage, with tomorrow's clash set to decide the winner of Pool B.
Hosts and pre-tournament favorites France struggled to live up to the raucous expectations of the Stade de France. A 12-12 draw against the USA, followed by a labored 19-12 win against Uruguay, leaves France with a lot of room for improvement with a crucial clash against Fiji that could decide their fate.
France's Pool C rivals Fiji, on the other hand, showed clinical dominance with a 40-12 thrashing of Uruguay in their opening game, followed by a 38-12 demolition of the USA. Despite Fiji's poor sevens season, this return to form for the defending champions will send warning signals to the other gold medal hopefuls - New Zealand, Argentina, and tomorrow's opponents France.
Pool A concluded with one of the favorites, New Zealand, capping off their day with a 17-5 win against South Africa, following a 40-12 thrashing of Japan earlier in the day.
Ireland also had a successful day. After edging out a tenacious South African side 10-5 in their opening game, the Irish turned on the afterburners to win 40-5 against a Japanese team that never managed to gain a foothold in either of their losses. Ireland's late improvement against Japan and New Zealand's consistency leave fans with a huge clash tomorrow.
The pool stage concludes on Thursday before the top two teams in each group and the two best third-placed teams qualify for the knockout rounds. Those final two places will give teams like Samoa and South Africa the opportunity to try and reach the knockout rounds and the chance at a medal. ■
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