Samoa has to overcome New Zealand in their final pool game of the Vancouver 7s in the World Sevens Series if the team is to have any hope of qualifying to the Cup quarterfinals.

Manu Samoa Sevens started their campaign on a high note beating Spain 31-19 but succumbed to USA   in their second game. This results leaves them with a do or die game against New Zealand.

Five men's teams remain unbeaten after a superb opening day at the HSBC Canada Sevens in Vancouver.

New Zealand, Argentina, Great Britain and Ireland top their respective pools after the 16 teams played two matches apiece, while South Africa also avoided defeat.

However, the day belonged to Uruguay and home favourites, Canada.

Uruguay had never won at BC Place before, losing five previous encounters by an average margin of 32 points. But they gave their chances of avoiding relegation from the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series a huge boost with a stunning 17-14 win against double Olympic champions Fiji.

“It’s so special, I am feeling so grateful for the team, they left everything out on the field,” said captain Diego Ardao.

Hosts Canada then signed off an enthralling day of sevens with a brilliant 29-12 win over Australia in the final match to send the crowd home happy.

POOL A

New Zealand stretched their winning run in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023.

They never looked under threat against an out-of-sorts USA side that shipped eight tries in a 52-0 defeat.

Leroy Carter continued his fine form from Los Angeles last week with a brace and Ngarohi McGarvey-Black also crossed twice.

While the USA were unable to test New Zealand, Spain certainly did.

Los Leones deprived the All Blacks Sevens of the ball and actually led 7-0 at half-time, thanks to a try from Miguel Reina following a three-minute build-up.

However, New Zealand raised their game after the break and eventually eased to a 17-7 victory.

To their immense credit, the USA rallied magnificently to beat Samoa 14-12 in their next game and ensure captain Steve Tomasin’s 50th Series tournament appearance wasn’t all bad.

POOL B

Argentina’s opening day efforts as they recorded a 31-12 win over Japan and a 21-12 win against France to finish at the top of Pool B.

As the only team to have played in all previous 199 tournaments, South Africa are a team that go the distance.

And that showed in their opening match against France, which ended in a dramatic 19-19 draw.

The injury-hit Blitzboks looked down and out when they trailed Les Bleus, but the second of Siviwe Soyizwapi’s two tries, brilliantly converted from the touchline by Ricardo Duarttee, earnt them a share of the spoils.

A 40-12 win over Japan followed to set up a mouth-watering encounter with Argentina on Saturday.

POOL C

When Great Britain defeated Uruguay 45-5 in the opening fixture, no one inside BC Place would have predicted what was to follow.

Uruguay faced Fiji in their second game, opponents they had never beaten before. In fact, they hadn’t scored a single point against Ben Gollings’ side in any of the previous meetings in the current Series.

Fiji opened the scoring through Pilipo Bukayaro after just two minutes and it looked as though the formbook would be followed.

However, Los Teros hit a real purple patch and their brilliant restart work allied to Fijian ill-discipline saw them take a 17-7 lead with tries from Baltazar Amaya, Felipe Arcos Perez and Tomas Etcheverry.

As expected, Fiji threw everything at them and Josese Batirerega’s try two minutes from time set up a grandstand finish but Uruguay held on.

Great Britain ensured they go into day two with the upper hand when they defeated Kenya 26-12 in their second game. Max McFarland was unable to add to his hat-trick against Uruguay but Tom Emery bagged a brace.

POOL D

Canada ended an eight-game Series losing streak against Australia in the final match of the day in a boost to their survival hopes.

Having lost 35-5 to table-topping Ireland, Canada fed off the energy from the home crowd to deliver a brilliant performance against the reigning Series champions.

Matthew Percillier scored twice and Alex Russell scored an absolute screamer, with play going from one end of the pitch to the other, in a 29-12 victory that belied Canada’s lowly 14th-place standing on the Series.

Ireland are pushing hard for Olympic qualification at the other end of the table and they made short work of Chile in their second game to finish on top of Pool D,

Mark Roche, Dylan O'Grady and Jordan Conroy all scored doubles in a 50-7 win against Los Condores Sevens.

With one remaining fixture against bottom-of-the-table Chile to come and the top two teams, Ireland and Australia, facing off against each other on Saturday, it is all to play for in Pool D for a Canadian side that need as many points as possible in their battle to avoid relegation.