HSBC Sevens World Series
England qualify for Vegas quarters
ESPNscrum Staff
February 11, 2012
DJ Forbes toasts New Zealand's triumph, Wellington 7s, Westpac Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand, February 4, 2012
New Zealand moved into the quarter finals after their success in Wellington last weekend © Getty Images
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England secured their place in the quarter finals after an unbeaten first day at the Sevens World Series in Las Vegas.

Ben Ryan's team booked their place in the cup quarters with a dramatic 12-7 victory over Scotland. Christian Lewis-Pratt scored with seconds remaining to steal the victory after Dan Norton, England's other try scorer, was sent off.

Norton had earlier scored a hat-trick in England's 29-5 victory over Brazil, who were making their first appearance on world stage since 2002 as they build up to hosting the first Olympic Sevens tournament in Rio in 2016.

New Zealand, Samoa and Kenya are also guaranteed a place in the quarter finals after coming through the opening day undefeated. Fiji and South Africa also had a perfect record with each of the 16 teams playing two of their three pool matches on Friday evening in the new format for the USA Sevens event.

World Series leaders New Zealand recorded emphatic 42-5 and 31-5 victories over Japan and Australia, while Samoa claimed 33-0 and 19-15 wins over the Japanese and Australians. Australia therefore were eliminated from the cup competition.

Fiji and South Africa are well set to qualify for the quarter finals after the Fijians beat the USA 33-19 and Argentina 14-12 in Pool B while the South Africans overcame Wales 29-12 and Uruguay 33-0.

Kenya's opening day victories over Scotland and Brazil set up a Pool D deciders against England on day two.

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