Defending champions New Zealand and Olympic gold medallists Fiji launched their World Cup Sevens campaigns with comfortable victories here Friday as Australia crashed out.

New Zealand, bidding to become the first team in history to claim back-to-back World Cup Sevens crowns, overpowered Russia 29-5 to book their place in the quarter-finals at AT&T Park, home of baseball's San Francisco Giants.

Fiji, the 2016 Olympic champions, meanwhile survived an early scare against a Japan side bristling with Fiji-born talent to win 35-10.

The Fijians, roared on by a vocal contingent of fans, held their nerve after trailing 7-5 at half-time to stretch away after the restart, with France-based stars Leone Nakarawa and Semi Radradra both impressing from the bench.

The Fijians will now play Argentina in Saturday's quarter-finals for a place in the last four.

Fiji coach Gareth Baber was satisfied at how his team had coped with the pressure of the tournament's new straight knockout format.

In contrast to previous years, where teams played group games before the knockout stage, this year's event is a single elimination tournament.

"You just want to win every game," Baber told AFP.

"I was pleased with the concentration levels, the focus that we had to control the game and get what we needed out of it in the second half.

"Obviously there was a couple of errors from Japan at the end but it was a very good test."

Baber also paid tribute to the way that Radradra, Nakarawa and other recent additions to the Fiji squad had fitted in.

"They're winners. And they've come into a group of boys that are also winners," Baber said.

But while Fiji and New Zealand both came through their first round tests, there was disappointment for Australia who tumbled out to France.

France's Tavite Veredamu -- a soldier in the French Foreign Legion who was drafted into France's sevens squad last year -- scored twice in a pulsating 22-17 victory.

"It's just unbelievable," Veredamu told AFP. "We knew that we could cause a surprise here. Hopefully we can cause another surprise this weekend."

France's reward for their upset of Australia is a meeting with mighty New Zealand on Saturday in the last eight.

In other first round action on Friday, top seeds South Africa demolished Ireland 45-7 to progress to a quarter-final against Scotland.

The Scots battled into the last eight after an astonishing comeback to defeat Kenya.

The Kenyans looked to be cruising into the last eight after racing into a 26-0 lead early in the second half.

But Scotland reeled off unanswered tries from Harvey Elms, Scott Riddell and two from Jamie Farndale as well as a penalty try to seal a sensational 31-26 victory in stoppage time.

The biggest cheer of a raucous opening day watched by an estimated crowd of 25,000 came in the United States' opening win over Wales.

The host nation have emerged as a genuine force on the world sevens circuit, where they have recorded victories in London and Las Vegas in recent years.

The Americans were too powerful for an outmatched Welsh team on Friday, running out 35-0 winners.

The USA will now face England for a place in the semi-finals on Saturday. The English battled to a 19-15 win over Samoa to advance to the last eight.

In the women's tournament meanwhile, New Zealand marked themselves out as the team to beat with two emphatic wins, piling up more than 100 points without conceding a point in wins over Mexico and Ireland.

New Zealand will play the United States in Saturday's semi-finals.

Australia's women meanwhile will have a chance to avenge their men's team's defeat when they face France in the other half of the draw.

Australia progressed with wins over Papua New Guinea and Spain. France advanced to the semi-finals after beating Canada 24-19.</s>SAN FRANCISCO — The new knockout format didn’t claim any major upset victims during the first day of the Rugby World Cup Sevens on Friday.

The 24-team men’s field has been reduced to quarterfinalists while the 16-team women’s tournament will be decided among New Zealand, Australia, the United States and France on Saturday.

Siviwe Soyizwapi scored four tries to lead top men’s seed South Africa past Ireland 45-7, while No. 3 New Zealand dominated Russia 29-5 in its bid to become the first three-time men’s Rugby World Cup Sevens champions.

Second-seeded Fiji received a tough early test from Japan but pulled away with a relentless second half in a 35-10 win. Fiji coach Gareth Baber said his team isn’t viewing the World Cup as a bounce-back opportunity after the side lost its grasp on the World Series title last month.

“We had our disappointment with that,” Baber said. “But as a sportsperson you put that to bed and you move on to what the next job is.”

Reigning World Series player of the year Perry Baker scored two tries of 60-plus meters for the host American side in a 35-0 blanking of Wales. USA won their only World Series event earlier this year in front of their home fans in Las Vegas.

“You can’t help but love that and get that boost,” Baker said after taking a victory lap around AT&T Park, home of baseball’s San Francisco Giants.

“After winning Vegas, that shows we can win a tournament. After we won that, everybody was saying, ‘These guys got a chance to win the World Cup.’ People started really believing us and it shows that they showed up tonight to support us.”

No. 1 women’s seed New Zealand followed up a 57-0 win over Mexico in their opener with a 45-0 drubbing of an upstart Ireland squad that defeated England 19-14 earlier in the day. Michaela Blyde led all players with five tries in the two blowout wins for the Black Ferns, who won the Rugby Sevens World Cup in 2013 and will face USA in Saturday’s semifinals.

“Most of the crowd will be against us,” Blyde said. “We’re used to those sort of environments. It definitely brings out their strengths.”

Speedy wing Naya Tapper sparked the Americans with early breakaway scores in both of her side’s victories on Friday. USA also muscled their way past Russia for a couple of late tries in a 33-17 win.

“If you look our team, we got speedsters but we also got people who are just plowing through people,” Tapper said. “We got everything that you could possibly dream of. As long as we do what we need to do to...we’re unstoppable.”

If they get past the United States, the Black Ferns could be headed for another high-profile collision with archrival Australia in Saturday night’s final. The Australians outscored their opponents a combined 69-5 in their two Friday victories to earn a semifinal date with sixth-seeded France, which outlasted No. 3 seed Canada 24-19 in a tightly contested quarterfinal.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Joanne Fa’avesi represents two sides of the rugby world. As the daughter of Tongan immigrants, she was born into a traditional rugby household and it took little convincing for her to pick up an oval ball. And having grown up as an American up in California, she aims to play her part in a rugby revolution that will help make the game a truly global sport.

Nicknamed Nana, the 26-year-old was lost for words reflecting upon the noisy crowd in San Francisco’s AT&T Park for the Rugby World Cup Sevens, where the US women progressed to the final four, while more traditional rugby nations like England and Fiji fell in the opening round of the women’s tournament.

“I don’t think I can explain in words, it is amazing, have you been out there? Have you heard that crowd? It is crazy,” she said.

“They are probably the best crowd I have ever been able to step onto the field with. It is just ecstatic. The whole team loves that crowd and they are the majority of the reason we are bringing it out there.”

Despite having central contracts, many of the American women’s sevens players also hold time part-time jobs to make ends meet. But Fa’avesi, the youngest of seven children, has the luxury of training full time.</s>SAN FRANCISCO — The Black Ferns stood shoulder to shoulder Saturday as their national anthem played and day turned to dusk by the San Francisco Bay. About 30 minutes later they stood shoulder to shoulder again, this time atop a podium with gold medals draped around their necks.

The final was one-way traffic as New Zealand blanked France 29-0 and became the first country to repeat as Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens champions.

Tournament high scorer Michaela Blyde added three more tries to her total as she finished with nine tries and 45 points. But this championship run was founded on a stout defense. The final marked the third shutout of the tournament for New Zealand after they outlasted host United States in a tense 26-21 semifinal win earlier in the day.

“To be here at a Rugby World Cup, come away with the win and retain the title_we’ve made history now,” Blyde. “We’re pretty happy with ourselves.”

Sixth-seeded France arrived in the final after stunning No. 2 seed Australia with a 19-12 win. France’s David Courteix was named coach of the tournament after leading his side past third-ranked Canada and Australia to reach the final.

“I’m very proud of the players each time,” Courteix said. “I think with the new (knockout) format there was a lot of pressure. I am very proud of their attitude.”

Australia edged USA 24-14 to claim the bronze medal with Elia Green scoring a brace of tries for the Olympic champions.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>France's Tavite Veredamu shows his Australian rivals a clean pair of heels at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco. Picture: Jeff Chiu/AP

France's Tavite Veredamu shows his Australian rivals a clean pair of heels at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco. Picture: Jeff Chiu/AP

THE honeymoon is over for Australia's new men's rugby sevens coach Tim Walsh, who has been left to rue his side's simple errors in a disappointing early World Cup exit.

Australia fell at their first hurdle in San Francisco on Saturday morning (AEST), upset 22-17 by France in the knock-out tournament.

They will be haunted by the hulking figure of Tavite Turaganibuli Veredamu, who scored twice in the upset win.

Things looked up when Lachie Anderson latched on to a grubber for the game's first try.

But a follow-up five-pointer went begging and the game turned from that point.

France replied and then went ahead with the final play before half-time when Terry Bouhraoua dashed from inside his own half for a 12-10 lead.

Poor defence again hurt Australia in the second half but they still had a chance to win it, down by five with ball in hand after the hooter.

But a knock-on snuffed out the fairytale finish and any chance of a World Cup crown in a frustrating season.

"Everyone's hurting immensely, but you can't win games when you let through that many breaks, missed tackles and at the end there, we've got control of the game, got the ball and we turned it over," Walsh said.

"We're disappointed because that wasn't our best and errors there cost us."

Former women's coach Walsh took over from Andy Friend after April's Commonwealth Games, with the men having won the Sydney World Series leg earlier in the year.

Hamstrung by constant injuries, they've thrown up mixed results all year but entered AT&T Park with a healthy squad confident they could make a run for the title.

Instead they will play for the minor placings, with Russia their next assignment on Sunday morning (AEST).

"It sucks, it's horrendous," Walsh said.

"You work so hard and you want to get out there and perform for family, friends and country ... you give it everything and don't get the result, it hurts."

Defending champions New Zealand eased past Russia to begin their tournament positively, and England pipped Samoa 19-5.

World Series champions and Olympic gold medallists Fiji survived a first-half scare to run away from Japan 35-10.</s>On the men’s side, Canada was eliminated in the round of 16 as they were shut out by Argentina 28-0

Canada’s title aspirations reached the end of the road at the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in San Francisco on Friday.

Despite overcoming a 12-0 deficit, the women’s side lost on the final play of their quarterfinal matchup at AT&T Park against France as Caroline Drouin scored the game-winning try to put France up 24-19.

Canadian captain Ghislaine Landry scored a try and had two conversions, while Charity Williams and Bianca Farella added a try apiece.

Lina Guerin led the way with two tries for France, while Marjorie Mayans and Drouin also had one each. Montserrat Amedee and Shannon Izar each had a conversion.

France opened the scoring off Mayans’ try and stretched its lead to 12-0 when Guerin cashed in three minutes later.

Landry managed to close the gap to 12-7 with a score and conversion just before halftime.

Canada grabbed its first lead off Williams’ try to start the second half, but Guerin’s second try and Izar’s conversion put France back ahead 19-14.

Farella levelled the game with less than a minute to go, but Drouin’s marker was the difference maker.

France advances to play Australia in the semifinal Saturday. Canada will face Spain in a playoff to decide fifth through eighth place.

Britt Benn, Kayla Moleschi, Julia Greenshields, Sara Kaljuvee, Pam Buisa, Natasha Watcham-Roy and Farella scored tries for Canada, while Landry had three conversions and Breanne Nicholas had a single.

Teenager Bianca Silva topped Brazil with two tries, Amanda Araujo added another and Isadora Cerullo had two conversions.

On the men’s side, Canada was eliminated in the round of 16 as they were shut out by Argentina 28-0.

Santiago Mare had two tries, while Gaston Revol and Mateo Carreras had one each for Argentina. Revol added three conversions and Mare had one.

Canada is slated to play Kenya to decide placing of teams from nine to 16.

Earlier Friday, the Canadian men advanced to the round of 16 with a 29-21 win over Papua New Guinea.

Justin Douglas topped Canada with two tries, while Harry Jones, Matt Mullins and Connor Braid had one apiece. Nate Hirayama had two conversions.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.</s>Welcome to 1 NEWS NOW's live coverage of day two of the Rugby World Cup Sevens at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Watch all the action live here. Every game of the men's and women's Rugby World Cup Sevens will be live from July 21-23 on TVNZ's Duke channel - Freeview 13, Sky 23, and streaming on tvnz.co.nz.

Playing for 11th and 12th, are Fiji and China.

Brazil take the win, and 13th place. They come away with a dominant 22-0 victory over South Africa.

South Africa and Brazil play now in the match for 13th/14th.

Back to the women's draw now, and Mexico face Papua New Guinea.

England have broken the USA's hearts, coming up with a brilliant crossfield kick to see them runaway and score. They advance as 24-19 winners.

The USA have come back from 19-7 down, levelling scores at 19-all in the final minute. England looking for the winner here. No one can get the winner though - this quarter-final is going to extra time!

The USA and England will now face off in the last of the quarter-finals, the winner will face South Africa.</s>Perry Baker scored a brace as USA brought the curtain down on a scintillating day of Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 action at AT&T Park with a 35-0 defeat of Wales to take their place in the Championship quarter-finals.

The hosts are joined in the race for the Melrose Cup by defending champions New Zealand, Olympic champions Fiji, HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2018 winners South Africa, RWC Sevens 2013 runners-up England, Argentina, France and Scotland.

The Championship quarter-finals will get underway at 15:32 local time (GMT-7) on Saturday with Scotland facing South Africa, Argentina taking on Fiji, France meeting New Zealand and USA tackling England.

The men’s tournament began with a preliminary round featuring the nations ranked ninth to 24th to determine who would progress to face the top eight seeds in the round of 16 and who would take their place in the Bowl bracket on the final two days of the tournament.

Papua New Guinea, making their RWC Sevens debut, came close to upsetting the form book when the 23rd seeds battled back from 24-7 down against Canada with some slick handling and pace leading to tries by Henry Kalua and Hensley Peter. There was to be no fairytale comeback, though, with Connor Braid making certain of a 29-21 victory for Canada.

Chile and Ireland were also involved in an epic battle that went down to the wire. Ireland, winners of a bronze medal in the London round of the series, looked to be heading for extra-time against the battling South Americans until they worked Jimmy O’Brien over in the corner with time up, much to the relief of the Irish fans in the stands.

The drama continued into the round of 16 with an incredible comeback by Scotland to beat Kenya 31-26. The eighth seeds had trailed 26-0 against the Kenyans, who had battled past Tonga 19-7 in their opening match, but five second-half tries to the delight of the AT&T Park crowd. Scotland made the most of the space created by Belgium Tuatagaloa’s sending off for two yellow cards to storm back, captain Scott Riddell coolly sending Jamie Farndale over for the winner.

Argentina’s 28-0 victory over Canada was more straightforward before the drama continued as France shocked Australia. With two and a half minutes to go the scores were level at 17-17 before Les Bleus found Tavite Veredamu in space out wide and he had too much pace and power for Australia.

The reward for France is a Championship quarter-final with defending champions New Zealand. The All Blacks Sevens beat Russia 29-5 to signal their intentions to become the first nation to win back-to-back tournaments. They led 12-5 at half-time but quickly built on that with Joe Ravouvou a constant threat with his physicality and speed.

Fiji endured an intense battle with Japan to start their bid for a third RWC Sevens title and went in at half-time trailing the Asian champions 10-7. However, the footwork of captain Jerry Tuwai, one of five Olympic gold medallists in San Francisco, ignited the Fijian attack and three quick-fire tries from Josua Tuisova, Semi Radradra and Jasa Veremalua helped wrap up a 35-10 win.

South Africa faced no such problems against Ireland with Siviwe Soyizwapi becoming the first player since RWC Sevens 2005 to score four tries in a match in their emphatic 45-7 victory. That left the hosts to bring the curtain down on day one and, drawing on the euphoria of the crowd, they ran out 35-0 winners with captain Madison Hughes converting all five of their tries.</s>Watch all the action live here. Every game of the men's and women's Rugby World Cup Sevens will be live from July 21-23 on TVNZ's Duke channel - Freeview 13, Sky 23, and streaming on tvnz.co.nz.

TRY! A little too late from the US as Lauren Doyle scores a consolation try after NZ secure their spot in the women's final.

TRY! Portia Woodman scores the decisive try after Sarah Goss creates the space for the speedster to score close to the goal posts.

TRY! New Zealand go end-to-end with Gayle Broughton side-stepping her way through USA's defence before powering her way over the try-line to give New Zealand the lead.

TRY! It is a tight contest and New Zealand's Ruby Tui scores a much needed try for the Black Ferns just before the break. Tyla Nathan-Wong misses her shot at goal from the sideline.

TRY! Naya Tapper scores her second try of the match, brushing off New Zealand's star speedster Portia Woodman with ease and the home team hit the front.

TRY! Naya Tapper strikes back for the US, opting to go around the New Zealand defenders - she shows some great wheels to beat some of New Zealand's best defenders. The conversion is good and the scores are level.

TRY! Michaela Blyde dots down under the goal posts scoring the first try of the second semi-final. The conversion is good from Tyla Nathan-Wong.

TRY! Audrey Anne Cecile Ciofani scores the match winner to secure France's spot in the women's final. The Black Ferns are now up against USA.

TRY! Australia make a great steal at line-out time and Evania Pelite slices through the French defence and scores the first try of the first semi-final. The conversion is good.

Another close match which goes right down to the wire. Ireland upset Russia and manage to hold them out to get a 20-15 win.

The crowd comes to life as Japan come from behind to win their Challenge quarter-final against heavy favourites Fiji.

Papua New Guinea come up short as they leave their comeback too late. Brazil secure their first win of the tournament. The New Zealand women will take on USA at 7.04am (NZ time) in the championship semi-final.

South Africa were simply the better side wth Mexico barely getting a touch in the second half. Up next Papua New Guinea take on Brazil.

South Africa run in three tries in the first and the women from Mexico are just not getting anything go there way. South Africa are just too big and too strong.</s>Australia have put disappointment behind them to clinch the women's bronze medal at the rugby sevens World Cup with a 24-14 win over the United States.

Ellia Green bagged two tries and Charlotte Caslick delivered a reminder of her class in the match for third place at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Claiming a medal delivered some comfort for the Olympic champions who were stunned 17-12 by France in the semi-finals earlier on Sunday (AEST).

Supersub Green unveiled her pace twice in the second half to see off the tournament hosts, after the scores were locked 7-7 at halftime.

Playmaker Caslick set up the first of them with a cross-kick, having earlier put Cassandra Staples across with a neat inside pass.
New Zealand defeats France 29–0 in the final to win the 2018 women's Rugby World Cup Sevens.