Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand, England, South Africa and Australia each topped their pool by winning all three of their matches over the first two days at the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens and proceed to the Cup quarter finals along with the two best runners-up, USA and Kenya.

Under the watchful eye of IOC President Jacques Rogge, tournament hosts Hong Kong also delighted the crowd by clinching a famous victory against last year's Sevens World Cup winners Wales, 21-19, but it was the established Sevens powers who eased through to the last eight.

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Cup quarter finals
Samoa v USA
England v Australia
Fiji v South Africa
Kenya v New Zealand

Argentina were unlucky to narrowly drop to the Plate on points difference and look the pick of the sides in the second tier quarter finals where they face Wales.

So far this season there have been three Cup winners in the IRB Sevens World Series - New Zealand (2), Fiji and Samoa (2) - and currently the kiwis lead the race for the overall title by just two points from the in-form Samoans.

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Pool round-up

Pool A: Samoa qualify for Cup

Samoa went unbeaten in Pool A, off to a winning start with a convincing 40-12 win against Italy, which they followed up with a hard-fought victory against Russia, coming from 12-7 down in the second half to win 24-12 and then a 21-14 win against Argentina.

The 2007 champions have won the last two events in the World Series, in Vegas and Adelaide, and again counted on an outstanding contribution from Alafoti Fa'osilva as well as Uale Mai and the increasingly influential Fautua Otto.

With Team Manager Gus Pichot watching on, Argentina needed to be at their best to secure a hard-fought 19-12 win against the Russians, and then enjoyed a more free-flowing performance against Italy to win 42-0 before just falling short against the Samoans.

The Italians overcame Russia 14-12 in the all-European class to finish third in the pool.

Pool B: NZ qualify for Cup

All but three of New Zealand's 12 players scored tries as the World Series leaders got off to a winning start, 59-5 against Chinese Taipei, and then both captain DJ Forbes and vice-captain Zar Lawrence scored braces as they beat France convincingly.

The kiwis finished their pool campaign with a battling 22-5 win against improved Scotland, Kurt Baker scoring two tries.

Earlier, France edged Scotland 12-7 and both the French and Scots ran out convincing winners against Chinese Taipei.

Pool C: Fiji & USA qualify for Cup

Fiji looked close to their best as they stormed through Pool C untroubled. Setefano Cakau scored a hat trick and Waisale Beci and Niumaia Rokobuli two apiece as the defending champions scored 12 in an opening 82-7 victory against Thailand - the second largest winning margin in the history of the World Series.

The islanders followed that up with another impressive display of attacking rugby, Cakau outstanding in a 45-7 victory against Portugal and they were also too hot for the USA in the final game of the group, winning 38-12.

Adelaide Cup finalists USA won a closely fought match 17-10 against Portugal on day one and Kevin Swiryn then scored five of their 10 tries in a 62-0 win against Thailand.

Pool D: Australia qualify for Cup

Australia won all three of their games with relative ease to top their pool and qualify for the Cup quarters.

In their first match China put in a superb first half effort to lead 12-7 early on but two tries by Brackin Karauria-Henry helped the Wallaby Seven run out 45-12 winners. Michael O'Connor's side followed up with a 33-12 win against Tonga, Liam Gill scoring a hat trick, and a 36-12 win against Canada, who had also won their opening two games.

Morgan Williams' Canadians edged Tonga 12-10 on day one and followed up with a 12-7 win against China on day two. In the battle between the pool's two bottom teams Tonga overcame the Chinese.

Pool E: England qualify for Cup

While England impressed in winning all three of their matches in front of the large ex-pat crowd, hosts Hong Kong produced the result of Pool E by clinching a famous victory against last year's Sevens World Cup winners Wales, 21-19. With almost the final play of the game Anthony Haynes crossed to pull the scores level and Keith Robertson held his nerve to take the game for the locals. Their path to the Cup quarter finals was barred, though, when local rivals Japan beat them convincingly 40-7.

Champions of 2002 to 2006, England got their challenge off to a winning start against Hong Kong, Oliver Lindsay-Hague and Nick Royle both scoring twice in a 45-0 win. Ben Ryan's side then proved far too strong for Japan, winning by the same scoreline and finally by seeing off Wales.

The Welsh had earlier fought off the stiff challange of Asia's number one side, Japan, to win 12-10.

Pool F: South Africa & Kenya qualify for Cup

Pool F featured all three African nations in the 24-team draw, reigning World Series champions South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

The South Africans won their first two matches, Cecil Afrika crossing twice in a 28-15 win against Zimbabwe and the same man played a leading role in a 40-7 defeat of Korea.

Crucially, Kenya also started with two strong victories, 51-7 against Korea and 24-0 win against Zimbabwe, meaning that, although they lost the pool decider 21-7, they had done enough to squeeze through to the Cup draw on points difference as one of the two best runners-up.