Canada pushes Samoa but loses 14-10 at Hong Kong Rugby Sevens

Canada gave Samoa a scare before falling 14-10 on the first day of play at the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament Friday.

Alafoti Fa'aosiliva scored a try to put Samoa ahead but tries by Canadian captain Phil Mack either side of the half gave the Canada the lead. Lolo Lui struck late in the second half to give Samoa the win.

Fiji scored five tries in a 33-0 win over Chinese Taipei in the other Pool E game Friday. The Canadians play Chinese Taipei and Fiji on Saturday.

Elsewhere, defending champion New Zealand and England crushed their opponents as they regrouped from disappointing quarter-final losses in the World Cup earlier this month.

Another World Cup quarter-finalist, South Africa, survived an early scare from South Korea to win 29-7.

Playing in steady rain at the Hong Kong Stadium, Lote Raikabula scored a hat trick of tries and Hurricanes standout Victor Vito added a pair to lift the Kiwis past Sri Lanka 59-0. Dan Caprice scored three tries as Kevin Barrett and Josua Drauniniu each had two to lead England past China 54-0.

"They were ruthless. That's what I asked the boys to be and that's what they were," England coach Ben Ryan said.

Ryan added that his side used the disappointment of losing out at the World Cup - won by unheralded Wales - to inspire their performance.

"We still find it really painful and that was our first opportunity to sort of vent our frustration and our disappointment and I think they showed that there's still far more frustration to put out there," he said.

New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens, meanwhile, said the playing conditions were tough.

"It's quite atrocious out there. It's really slippery. Your concentration obviously has to be right up there. You have to be so good in contact in the rough areas," Tietjens said.

Tietjens added that the Kiwis are taking every game seriously regardless of the opponent, noting the depth of the sevens game.

"You make a couple of mistakes, you get punished," he said.

In other early-round action, World Cup runner-up Argentina beat Hong Kong 28-0 and Kenya edged the West Indies 17-10.

Wales was to play its first match against Japan later Friday, but the Welsh side includes only two of the players from its World Cup-winning side and isn't considered a favourite to win in Hong Kong.

At the halfway mark of the IRB Sevens season, England and South Africa are tied in first place with 60 points. Hong Kong is the largest and most prestigious event on the sevens calendar and offers 30 points to the winner. The World Cup results do not factor into the IRB Sevens race.

Source: The Canadian Press