Photo Credit - Mike Lee/KLC Photos For World Rugby
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic quarter-final line-up is taking shape following an enthralling opening day of rugby sevens at Tokyo Stadium that saw five teams make perfect starts to secure their places in the knock-out rounds.
Fiji, Great Britain, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA all guaranteed their places in Tuesday’s quarter-finals by securing victories in both their matches on the opening day of Olympic action in Tokyo.
South Africa - Day 1 (Match 1)
South Africa scored five tries to kick off their Pool C campaign with a 33-14 win over Ireland and followed that with a 14-5 victory over African rivals Kenya in the final match of day one.
South Africa, meanwhile, scored five tries to beat Ireland 33-14 and kick-off their Pool C campaign with a victory on day one.
Zain Davids opened the scoring for the Blitzboks before Impi Visser added a second try with less than six minutes gone.
Gavin Mullin got Ireland on the board before the break, but it was South Africa who struck first in the second half as Justin Geldud rose highest to claim a cross-field kick and dot down.
Terry Kennedy grabbed his first Olympic try to give Ireland hope of a comeback, but the Blitzboks made sure of victory with an expertly-taken Chris Dry effort and a late score from Stedman Gans.
South Africa - Day 1 (Match 2)
The Blitzboks raced into a 14-0 lead in the final match of the day, against Kenya, but were made to withstand serious pressure in the second period to hold on to the win.
Collins Injera scored for Kenya on the stroke of half-time but despite their best efforts in the second period, they were unable to breach the South African defence again and lost 14-5.
The defeat was Kenya’s second of the day after they slipped to an agonising 19-14 loss against the USA.
South Africa and the USA head into the final match of the morning session tomorrow unbeaten and knowing that whoever wins will line up in the quarter-finals as Pool C winners.
Finishing top of the pool will set up a knockout match against the team that finishes second in Pool A, which mathematically could still be Argentina, Australia or New Zealand.
Great Britain are yet to concede a point in Tokyo, scoring 58 unanswered points following a pair of impressive 24-0 and 34-0 Pool B victories over Canada and Japan respectively.
Defending champions Fiji needed to come from behind to get their Tokyo 2020 campaign off to a winning start against hosts Japan, eventually running out 24-19 winners. And they followed up with a 28-14 victory over Canada.
In Pool A, Rugby World Cup Sevens and World Rugby Sevens Series champions New Zealand opened their Tokyo 2020 campaign with a pair of wins, beating the Republic of Korea 50-5 and overcoming Argentina 35-14.
USA began their Olympic campaign with a 19-14 win against Kenya, and backed it up with a hard fought 19-17 victory against Ireland.