Samoa had to dig deep to beat Kenya 31-5 in their opening game at the Hamilton stopover of the World Sevens Series.

The team were tied at 5-5 at the breather with a try apiece to Owen Niue and Anthony Omondi. For most of the first half Kenya frustrated Samoa by keeping ball possession and slowing the pace of the game.

However the pep talk during the break proved the difference with Samoa coming out firing and varying their game with better offloads and more commitment to set pieces.

Paul Scanlan finishing off a beautiful move in the ninth minute and then Vaa Apelu Maliko scoring under the post in the 11^th minute.

Then in the 13^th minute, Scanlan touching down for his second. Motu Opetai had the final say after the hooter as Samoa made use of a Kenya knock-on.

Samoa captain Paul Slater said it was a good start but the team was focused on finishing the day by moving into the Cup quarter-finals.

“It was good to get a win as we were training over Christmas and New Year’s. It was nice to get the win , we stayed humble after the win in Cape Town. We realise that it was the first of many,” Slater said.

Samoa will now face France at 1.22pm and then Fiji at 4.06pm.

Earlier on Fiji beat France 26-10, Argentina were 20-5 winners over Spain while South Africa took Canada apart by beating them 34-5.