The heartache and sheer disappointment of losing in the final of the George Sevens in December last year to New Zealand seemed to have galvanized the South African Sevens to causing destruction and mayhem at this New Zealand leg of the IRB World Sevens Series.

South Africa along with Fiji is the two dominant forces suited to challenging for honours on Saturday against New Zealand.

Fiji seem desperate to register their name as a winner of a tournament after South Africa won in Dubai and New Zealand in South Africa however the locals would love a final with the old foe and they might just get it.

In their opening encounter of the tournament South Africa came up against Canada and with a few early match jitters the Boks were first to concede a try.

However the South Africans were quick to reply with a converted try from Antonius Verhoeven which gave his team the lead at the half-time interval. The Canadians once again threatened to take the show away from the South Africans as they score first in the second half.

From the resultant kick-off, the Boks regained the lead from a try by Renfred Dazel.

Towards the end Canada had camped on the South African try-line but through some diligent and hard tackling the Boks were able to gain possession leaving Jandre Blom with the honour of scoring the final try to give South Africa a flattering 24-10 win.

In their second match South Africa faced a determined Cook Islands but their lack of ideas capitulation of playing a big rugby nation was a major reason to their quick demise.

South Africa hurriedly amassed a lead of 19-5 by half-time through three tries scored by Mwandile Stick, Howard Noble and Gcobani Bobo. The Cook Islands flirted with a comeback when they scored early in the second half to come within seven points but South Africa were just too strong for them and pulled ahead to a 31-12 with a Dazel and Noble try.

The superiority of the South Africans showed in the ingenuity of Dazel's try as a long range punt by Stick saw him flick a back heel straight into the hands of Dazel who cantered over the line.

The South Africans final encounter of Friday was a match against Australia. It was vintage South Africa as they made their intentions clear from the onset and blitzed to a 15-0 lead at half-time. Australia breached the South African defensive line midway through the second half but it was too little to late.

Howard Noble put the final nail in the Wallabies coffin with a simple runaway try at the death to leave the Australians reeling at 27-7. The other unbeaten sides on the day were favourites and home side New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa.

The shock result of the day was contrived by Canada who convincingly beat Australia 26-17 with African minnows and crowd favourites Kenya also registering victories against the much rated Argentina 32-14 and Tonga by 24-7.

Coach Paul Treu commented, "We have three players playing their first ever tournament, a few who have played before and only three who played the first two tournaments so I always knew it was going to be a tough challenge. The most important thing for us was just to get past that first game against Canada and build momentum.

"At the end of the day we won all of our games and topped the pool so that was all we could do but, as the guys know, day one means nothing. It's all to do on day two."

On the competitive draw in New Zealand provided by the island nations he added, "You could see Tonga against New Zealand - they really gave them a go - and the Cook Islands was a tough game for us and they beat Canada. The island teams are just so much more difficult to play against and that means that it's important for us to come here with a well balanced team in terms of physicality and a bit of speed because against Samoa and those teams you're going to get hammered all game."

South Africa and Canada will now progress from Pool B to the Cup quarter finals to be played tomorrow.

1 Pool C 13:00 England 33 - 12 Scotland
2 Pool C 13:22 Samoa 26 - 0 Papua New Guinea
3 Pool B 13:44 South Africa 24 - 10 Canada
4 Pool B 14:06 Australia 35 - 17 Cook Islands
5 Pool A 14:28 Fiji 42 - 0 Portugal
6 Pool A 14:50 France 17 - 14 USA
7 Pool D 15:12 New Zealand 38 - 0 Kenya
8 Pool D 15:34 Argentina 12 - 14 Tonga
9 Pool C 15:56 England 22 - 7 Papua New Guinea
10 Pool C 16:18 Samoa 31 - 26 Scotland
11 Pool B 16:40 South Africa 31 - 12 Cook Islands
12 Pool B 17:02 Australia 12 - 26 Canada
13 Pool A 17:24 Fiji 43 - 0 USA
14 Pool A 17:46 France 22 - 14 Portugal
15 Pool D 18:08 New Zealand 19 - 5 Tonga
16 Pool D 18:30 Argentina 14 - 32 Kenya
17 Pool C 18:52 Scotland 17 - 12 Papua New Guinea
18 Pool B 19:14 Canada 12 - 24 Cook Islands
19 Pool A 19:36 Portugal 26 - 21 USA
20 Pool D 19:58 Kenya 24 - 7 Tonga
21 Pool C 20:50 England 12 - 19 Samoa
22 Pool B 21:12 South Africa 27 - 7 Australia
23 Pool A 21:34 Fiji 47 - 7 France
24 Pool D 21:56 New Zealand 33 - 5 Argentina