Five men's teams remain unbeaten after dramatic opening day at SVNS Valladolid

South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Fiji each posted 2-0 records on the opening day of the HSBC SVNS World Championship in Valladolid on Friday, leaving five Pool A and B clashes on day two to determine group seedings.

The Blitzboks, who claimed the SVNS 1 regular-season title and won the Hong Kong Sevens for the first time earlier this year, edged past Great Britain and Kenya in two tightly contested Pool A matches. Tristan Leyds and Shilton van Wyk were among the standout performers for South Africa, who will face an equally unbeaten Australia side on Saturday to settle the group’s top seed.

Australia’s path to 2-0 was far from straightforward. Deitrich Roache proved the match-winner in extra time as Liam Barry’s side beat Kenya 15-10, before backing it up with a five-point victory over Great Britain. “Obviously very important; we know this comp’s very tight. We also know Kenya are a really good team so they’ve pretty much pushed us to the end there,” Roache said after the Kenya match. “The body’s getting old but for a game like that, under that much pressure, I had to pull something out of the old bag.”

In Pool B, New Zealand opened with a commanding 40-0 demolition of Uruguay, with six different try-scorers and stand-in captain Sione Molia finishing off a well-worked move. “The word that we used the whole week was just grateful,” Molia said. “Grateful that we get to be on the other side of the world in Spain and do the things that we love.” The All Blacks Sevens followed that up with another strong display against Germany, setting up a top-of-the-group showdown with Argentina, who are also unbeaten.

Fiji look well placed to lead Pool C after going two from two, with Filipe Sauturaga and Kavekini Tanivanuakula scoring crucial second-half tries in a 19-7 win over the USA. France, meanwhile, recovered from an earlier loss to Fiji by beating hosts Spain 19-0 at half-time and running out comfortable winners, ending Spain’s hopes of a perfect opening day in front of their home crowd at the Estadio José Zorrilla.