All the top seeds came through the first day to qualify for the Cup quarterfinals at the end of the first day of the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens, the opening tournament of the 2009/10 IRB World Series. Defending champion and series title holder South Africa will face Fiji in the first of the quarters Saturday but will be aware that New Zealand, matched against Kenya, England which takes on Argentina and Samoa which faces Australia all impressed in the pool stages. The Boks, drawn in Pool A, were given a tough opening game against world champion Wales before winning 28-14. Arabian Gulf was easy prey for South Africa and in its final game Delport's side made it look easy against Australia, running in five tries to win 29-0. In pool B it became clear it would be a straight competition between pacific rivals Fiji and Samoa. In the event the two island teams, having each achieved wins over Scotland and Zimbabwe, fought out a bruising battle that ended in a 12-12 draw. But Samoa had a better points differential leaving them to top the group. Pool C was all about whether the rapidly improving Kenyans were good enough to overtake last year's Dubai runner-up, England. In the shoot out between the two England was held to a 12-10 scoreline at half time but in the second half tries by Series record points scorer Ben Gollings, speedster Jake Abbot and scrum half Mat Turner made it 27-10. Being strongly tipped for the Dubai title is New Zealand, which made an emphatic statement in their final pool match against Argentina with a 38-7 win. New Zealand looks likely to meet South Africa in the first semifinal, while in the second of the semis the odds are on a England
