TOKYO — Fiji underlined its recent dominance Saturday as the defending champion racked up a hat trick of explosive victories at the Tokyo Sevens. Table-topping South Africa and New Zealand also marched on, while host Japan qualified for its first Cup quarterfinal in style. Fiji picked up where it left off after triumphing in Hong Kong last weekend and Las Vegas in February by easing past Wales 19-10 and trouncing Hong Kong 35-14 in Pool A. England overpowered Hong Kong 33-0 and squeaked by Wales 10-7 but it came unstuck against the Pacific islanders. Fiji put it to the sword 33-19 helped by a spell-binding first half of exhibition rugby, a series of no-look, NBA-style passes bamboozling the English as Semi Kunatani and Vatemo Ravouvou finished with two tries apiece. A late brace from substitute Jeff Williams added some respectability to the scoreline but England will need a strong showing in Sunday's Cup competition to take advantage of Australia's flop in Pool B. The top four teams in the Sevens World Series automatically secure a place in Brazil, where sevens rugby will make its Olympic debut. Tokyo is the seventh leg of the nine-stage circuit, which ends in London next month. South Africa (110 points), Fiji (108) and New Zealand (107) look set to claim the top three spots but fourth-placed Australia gave England hope after crashing out of Cup contention in stunning fashion. Australia was shocked 12-10 by Portugal in a humiliating setback before losing 17-14 to Scotland. It salvaged a measure of pride by beating trans-Tasman rival New Zealand 19-14 . Australia has 84 points in the series standings with England in fifth place on 78. The All Blacks swatted aside Portugal 26-7 and pulverized Scotland 38-0 in their first two matches, while South Africa clinically won all of their Pool C games. The Blitzboks whitewashed Kenya 26-0 and thrashed Canada 29-7 before extinguishing a spirited American charge to beat the United States 24-15 in a pulsating clash. Japan's Brave Blossoms held Argentina 14-14 before upsetting Samoa 26-12. However, France had too much firepower for Japan in their Pool D finale, winning a cliff-hanger 24-19 to secure its quarterfinal spot. Brumbies dominate Cheetahs The wasteful ACT Brumbies bounced back from a disappointing Super Rugby loss to the NSW Waratahs last time out by easily brushing aside the Cheetahs of South Africa 20-3 in Canberra Saturday. Christian Leali'ifano and lock Blake Enever scored the tries for the Brumbies, who should have added more but for their own errors on the Cheetahs' line and some scrambling defence by the Bloemfontein-based outfit. In another Super Rugby match, wingers James Lowe and Tom Marshall scored tries as the Chiefs beat the Blues 23-16. The Chiefs improved their record for the season to 6-2, moving into second place behind the unbeaten Hurricanes and stretching their winning streak over the Auckland-based Blues to nine games. The Canterbury Crusaders ran in eight tries to devour South Africa's Sharks 52-10 at King's Park in Durban, while Lions snatched a 22-18 victory over the Bulls in Johannesburg. — Agencies
