South Africa advance in Japan

South Africa beat Argentina 28-12 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Japan Sevens, the seventh leg of the International Rugby Board World Series.

Kwagga Smith led South Africa with two tries while Branco du Preez added three conversions for the defending champions.

South Africa also beat Japan and Kenya and will face the United States, which secured their first quarter final berth of the 2013-14 series by finishing second in their pool.

England opened their Pool D account with back-to-back victories over Scotland and Spain, who fell 36-0 and 29-0, respectively, but it was a 24-21 beating of Australia which rounded off their day in such promising fashion. 

Simon Amor’s men will face Canada in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

Australia scrape through

Despite the loss to England, Australia advance from the pool and set up a cup quarter-final against table leaders New Zealand, who are hoping to win back-to-back honours of this kind, having been triumphant in Wellington last month.

The other quarterfinal matchup is Fiji against Kenya.

Failing to break into the top two of their pools, Wales and Scotland won just two matches between them and will face Spain and Portugal, respectively, in their pursuit of Tokyo’s bowl.

Joining them in that hunt are Samoa and hosts Japan, making up the other bowl quarter-final, while Argentina will face France.