Adelaide Sevens hosts Australia clinched their place in the Cup quarters as pool winners with a ruthless 36-0 win against USA and then a thrilling 17-12 win against England.
While the English could not recover from their opening day loss against Cup qualifiers USA, and dropped to the Bowl competition, Fiji did bounce back from their opening defeat against Wales to win their remaining matches and proceed with the Welsh to the last eight, at the expense of Kenya.
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Six tries by newcomer Sampie Mastriet helped defending champions South Africa to top their pool by drawing at the death against impressive Samoa, while Mikaele Pesamino has scorched over for eight tries so far for the islanders, the leading mark in the competition.
Series leaders New Zealand also made serene progress, winning all three of their matches for the concession of just one try, in their 47-7 victory against closest pool rivals Argentina.
Cup quarter finals
New Zealand v Samoa
Australia v Fiji
Wales v USA
South Africa v Argentina
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So far this season there have been three Cup champions. New Zealand lead the World Series by 14 points thanks to their two opening victories in Dubai and George, but Fiji won in Wellington and Samoa's win in Las Vegas last time out has taken them to up to second place.
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Pools round-up latest
Pool A: New Zealand and Argentina qualify for Cup
World Series leaders New Zealand scored five tries in a comfortable opening 31-0 win against Scotland and followed up with a 26-0 win against Tonga and then a superb 47-7 win against closest challengers Argentina to top the group.
It was far tougher for Argentina, though, who needed all 14 minutes to beat danger team Tonga 19-17 on day one with Joaquin Todeschini's last-gasp conversion and then overcame Scotland 14-7 first up on the day two, Diego Palma scoring both their tries.
Tonga finished third in the pool with victory against winless Scotland.
Pool B:South Africa andSamoaqualify for Cup
Defending Adelaide and World Series champions South Africa earned top place in Pool B by securing a 12-12 draw with Samoa and edging the islanders on points difference.
Last month's USA Sevens champions Samoa won their first match against France on day one and then followed up with a convincing win against Japan. Mikaele Pesamino scored twice against France, five against the Japanese and another against the Boks to leap to the top of the try-scoring list with eight.
South African 19-year-old Sampie Mastriet is the second highest scorer in the competition. The Sevens newcomer scored a hat trick of tries on debut against Japan on day one, bagged two more in a convincing 38-0 win against France and one against Samoa. Cecil Afrika's conversion earned the draw for the Boks meaning that they finished top on points differential.
Japan finished third in the pool after beating winless France 21-15.
Pool C: Wales and Fijiqualify for Cup
Wales and Fiji secured safe passage through to the Cup quarter finals ahead of Kenya on points difference after all three won two of their games.
The Kenyans had looked strong in beating both PNG and Wales but ran out of steam against the Fijians in the pool's final match, which allowed the Welsh to top the group with Fiji second.
Wales had caused the first upset of the Adelaide event by beating Wellington champions Fiji 17-12 on day one. They then came up short against last year's Adelaide Cup runners-up Kenya but scored 10 tries in a 64-5 win against PNG, captain Jevon Groves scoring three..
Pool D: Australia and USA qualify for Cup
Hosts Australia overwhelmed Niue 40-5 on day one, put in a ruthless attacking display to beat USA 36-0 and then battled to a superb 17-12 win against England to top the group and edge the Englishmen out into the Bowl.
For the USA Paul Emerick was in outstanding form as captain Kevin Swiryn scored twice and Matt Hawkins and Nick Edwards one apiece in a 24-21 win for the Americans on day one against England.
The USA had no answer to Australia but came from behind to beat Niue and then had the Wallabies to thank for helping them go through to the Cup in second place.
