26 Jan 2019

Kiwi sevens teams shine

10:29 pm on 26 January 2019

New Zealand men's and women's sevens teams gave their home fans plenty to smile about on day one of their respective tournaments in Hamilton.

New Zealand co-captain Scott Curry dots down in Hamilton.

New Zealand co-captain Scott Curry dots down in Hamilton. Photo: Photosport

In the men's World Series event, New Zealand convincingly won all three of their pool matches.

They beat Japan 52-0, Canada 49-10 and Spain 24-0 to secure a quarterfinal against Australia on Sunday afternoon.

Playing their first competitive matches on home soil, the New Zealand women's side won both their matches as part of the four-team fast four competition.

They edged England 19-14, before beating France 24-5 to book their place in Sunday night's final with a match to spare.

New Zealand women's sevens star Michaela Blyde.

New Zealand women's sevens star Michaela Blyde. Photo: Photosport

New Zealand face China to complete the round-robin portion of the competition and will come up against the winner of the match between England and France in the playoff for first.

In the men's event, the winner of the clash between trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand and Australia advances to a semifinal against either the USA or Scotland.

The other quarterfinals pit Fiji against Canada and South Africa against Samoa.