Great Britain men’s hopes of avoiding a shoot-out to preserve their elite HSBC SVNS Series status were severely dented on a topsy-turvy opening day of the Singapore Sevens.
The Britons were beaten 19-5 by Ireland in their opening Pool C fixture, but retain hope of progressing to the quarter-finals after stunning Olympic champions Fiji 19-14 in their second match.
They were done no favours by results elsewhere in the pool, however. USA, the only team within reach of ninth-placed GB in the overall standings, thumped the out-of-sorts Fijians 33-14, then beat Ireland 10-7 in a gripping evening contest.
Michael Hooper, the Australian 15s superstar, scored his first sevens try since switching codes last month, as his team followed a 26-19 win over Argentina with a 21-14 success against Canada.
The Singapore event, which began on Friday, is the seventh and final world series leg. A grand finals event in Madrid later this month will see the top eight teams compete for the overall championship. Those in the bottom four are condemned to a playoff with the leading four nations from the Challenger Series, with four spots in next season’s global series on offer.
Hong Kong are vying for one of those leading four positions in the second-tier competition, and could feasibly find themselves fighting with GB for world series status.
The Irish, meanwhile, must beat Fiji on Saturday to claim a quarter-final berth in Singapore, and maintain pressure on league leaders Argentina.
The South Americans have clammed up since winning three straight tournaments earlier in the season. They were poor in last month’s Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, but roused themselves to drub New Zealand 33-5 in Friday’s closing match, after the earlier defeat by Australia.
Hong Kong champions New Zealand squeezed past Canada 22-17 in their first game.
France and South Africa secured quarter-final spots after both beating Samoa and Spain.
In the women’s event, New Zealand and Australia, who are locked together on 106 points at the top of the series standings, each comfortably won their opening two matches.
USA, who were finalists in Hong Kong, endured a rotten day, losing to South Africa and Japan, the teams placed 11th and 10th respectively in the 12-team competition.