New Zealand, Samoa, Argentina and England all went unbeaten on day one of the USA Sevens, the fourth event in the IRB Sevens World Series, a day that saw the defending champions Fiji beaten by their great rivals Samoa in the final game.

The kiwis extended their unbeaten run to 33 matches with wins against France, Wales and Scotland in front of an impressive crowd of 18,000 at San Diego's PETCO Park, but now face the toughest of quarter final tests against great rivals Fiji.

In the other Cup quarter finals Samoa face Scotland, Argentina face South Africa and England will play Kenya.

DAY ONE RESULTS FROM SAN DIEGO AND DAY TWO LINE UPS >>

Pool A

New Zealand remain unbeaten this season after cruising through Pool A, scoring 85 unanswered points against Wales, France and Scotland. Gordon Tietjens started all 12 of his players in the course of the day and the form showed by the likes of Solomon King, Tafai Ioasa and Tomasi Cama, all normally substitutes, underlined the strength in depth at his disposal.

Second place in the pool went to Scotland, but only on points difference after all three Six Nations sides finished with one win and two losses. In the end Scotland avoided a loss by 32 points or more, which would have put France into the Cup quarters in their place.

Pool B

Fiji impressed in their first two matches against Australia and the West Indies and went out to a strong lead in the last match against Samoa but a try near the end by flyer Mikaele Pesamino handed Samoa the win against the defending champions. For Fiji Setefano Cakau, Neumi Nanuku and Emosi Vucago were again outstanding.

Samoa also recorded comfortable opening wins over Australia and the West Indies, although Joe Whipple's much-improved West Indies side did force the very best out of them and held them to just 7-5 at the break before the Samoans pulled away to a 33-5 win, Mikaele Pesamino again among the scorers.

Pool C

In another competitive pool Argentina and Kenya were both impressive in seeing off Canada and Chile before the Pumas won their thrilling decider late in the day to top their pool.

The Pumas earlier twice came from behind to beat Canada, Ramiro del Busto's try snatching victory in the final minute, and Chile held Kenya bravely before subsiding to a 38-0 defeat, Ocholla and Injera both grabbing a brace of trace in front of thousands of Kenyan fans.

Pool D

England and South Africa both wrapped up Cup quarter final qualification from Pool D with victories over Mexico and hosts USA before two tries by Ben Gollings inspired England to a 14-10 win over Paul Treu's side in the Pool decider.

Earlier Marius Schoeman was in tremendous form for the Boks and scored two tries in each of their comfortable opening wins, while for England Uche Odozua scored a hat trick against Mexico and Isoa Damudamu inspired them to a lead against the USA before the hosts fought back bravely to eventually go down fighting, 28-21. The USA outclassed Mexico 52-0 in their final match.

IRB Sevens competition: A rough guide

On day one at the USA Sevens there are four pools each comprising four teams. Each side plays three matches, gaining three points for a win, two for a draw and one for a loss. The top two sides in each pool qualify for the Cup quarter finals on day two. The winners of the Cup quarter finals proceed to the Cup semi finals, while the losers go on to play in the Plate semi finals. The bottom two sides in each pool at the end of day one contest the Bowl quarter finals and then either the Bowl or Shield semi finals.

Series points are awarded at each of the eight series tournaments as follows:
Cup winner - 20
Cup runner-up - 16
Losing Cup semi finalists - 12
Plate winner - 8
Plate runner-up - 6
Losing Cup quarter finalists - 4
Bowl winner - 2

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