Manu Samoa Sevens beat Chile 28-12 to keep up hopes of a ninth place finish at the Vancouver leg of the World Sevens Series on Sunday.

Samoa had to defeat New Zealand earlier to stay in contention for a Cup quarterfinal spot but this was not to be. New Zealand finished the game with the highest points they have scored against Samoa this season by winning 40-5.

Samoa found themselves in the difficult position after having lost to USA on Day One of the tournament.

Samoa will now face Uruguay at 6.44am on Monday morning.

Day two of the HSBC Canada Sevens has taken its toll on the top teams. South Africa, Fiji and New Zealand, all in the top four in the world, all failed to survive the second day of the Vancouver tournament, the 200th HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series event.

South Africa were knocked out in the group stage for the first time this season and failed to bounce back in their ninth place quarter-final against Kenya. The Blitzboks had not experienced this situation since the end of the 2022 season (Toulouse in May, then Los Angeles in August). Third in the standings, they will now have to fight for 13th place.

The Pumas 7s also beat Fiji in the dying moments of their quarter-final thanks to a brace from the impressive Marcos Moneta. They will play their Cup semi-final against Ireland.

France, who were rescued at the last minute, proved that they have what it takes to compete with the world's top four by beating Great Britain in a well-controlled second half. In 2019, after a disappointing tournament in Las Vegas, where they had finished in the bottom of the table, Les Bleus had finished with a silver medal around their neck a week later, already in Vancouver. Will Jérôme Daret's men repeat the feat? In any case, they are well on track.

They will not have New Zealand in their way as they were eliminated from the Cup race by Australia, a first for this season. The second day of the tournament saw the mid-table teams rise to the occasion: France (7th), Australia (6th) and Ireland (9th).