South Africa struggled past Canada and Scotland to squeeze into the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup Sevens on Friday. South Africa entered the Cup as co-leader of the sevens world series and favored to win its first Cup. But it needed a late try by Renfred Dazel to beat Canada 15-7 after the Canadians squandered two try chances with a knock-on and forward pass, then needed another last-minute try from captain Mpho Mbiyozo to end Scotland's comeback 19-14. That try cost Scotland a spot in the quarterfinals, and propelled South Africa into a matchup with in-form Argentina. Argentina, winner of the world series tournament in San Diego last month, downed Zimbabwe 40-5 and Wales 14-0, though Wales also advanced as one of the two best second-placed teams in pool play. In Saturday's other quarterfinals, Wales meets a rampant New Zealand, defending champion Fiji faces Kenya, and England tackles Samoa. England was fortunate to escape Tunisia a 28-24 winner and showed vast improvement in the showdown with Kenya. Tom Varndell's and Kevin Barrett's tries put England up 12-7 at halftime, then Isoa Damu scored twice to ensure the English topped Pool E. New Zealand routed Arabian Gulf 41-5 and Tonga 24-7 but lost Super 14 star Victor Vito to a calf injury. Fiji also remained unbeaten with impressive wins over the United States 26-12 and France 38-5. Samoa won Pool D after whitewashing Australia 19-0 in its last game. Ireland had also beaten Australia 24-21 but lost its chance to make the quarterfinals when it fell to Portugal 17-5. In the inaugural women's competition, New Zealand was the most impressive, scoring 101 points without conceding any against South Africa, Italy and Uganda. England didn't concede anything either, compiling 93 against the United States, Russia and Japan. Spain also went through undefeated, and France won its pool from Australia, even though it lost to the Netherlands. In the quarterfinals it's: France vs. US, New Zealand vs. Canada, Spain vs. South Africa, and England vs. Australia. Chiefs rout Force New Zealand's Waikato Chiefs scored tries in the first and last minutes to end their luckless start to the Super 14 season with a 31-13 win over Australia's Western Force in Hamilton on Friday. In Sydney, Timana Tahu scored a late try to give the NSW Waratahs a 15-11 win over the Queensland Reds in Friday's annual grudge match between the two Australian Super 14 teams.
