England suffered an early setback in their bid to win the Hong Kong Sevens as they lost 28-7 to Samoa in front of a record crowd in their opening Pool C clash.

England had beaten Samoa on their way to the Wellington Sevens title last month but on the opening night of the sixth leg of the Sevens World Series had few answers to opponents who won the ball from their first three kick-offs and built up a 21-0 half-time lead with tries from Faatoina Autagavaia (two) and Reupena Lavasa.

Tulolo Tulolo added a fourth try midway through the second half before replacement half back Sam Edgerley got England's consolation score late on.

England take on Scotland and Portugal on Saturday, with the latter winning their match-up 27-21. Duarte Moreira's first half hat-trick and a Goncalo Foro effort saw the Scots trail 20-7 at one stage. Andrew Turnbull's second try and one from Mark Robertson put Scotland 21-20 ahead before Moreira grabbed a fourth try of his own after the hooter.

Wales needed a late score from Cardiff Blues centre Cory Allen to see off Australia 19-14 in their opening Pool A match. First-half tries from Lee Williams and Alex Webber, and a Rhys Jones conversion, put Wales 12-0 up at the interval before a Lee Williams brace put the Wallabies in front. But Allen powered over a minute from time and Jones converted to give Wales an important win with South Africa and Argentina to come on day two.

Argentina were responsible for the shock of the day when they hammered South Africa 21-0. New Zealand were not affected by the absence of injured World Player of the Year Tomasi Cama as they saw off France 33-12 in Pool B.