Dubai Sevens: Black Ferns unbeaten in pool play, men lose to Spain

The Black Ferns Sevens have cruised through pool play at the season-opening world series event at Dubai, but the rebuilding NZ men have barely survived a shock defeat to Spain.

Both programmes — along with many of their rivals — have seen big changes since the Paris Olympics, where the women repeated their gold-medal performance from Tokyo 2020.

The Ferns are without leading tryscorers Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and Michaela Blyde, along with top pointscorer Tyla King but have reached the quarterfinals with wins over Brazil (33-5), Japan (36-12) and Olympic silver medallists Canada (38-5).

The Japanese had toppled Canada in their tournament opener, but were no match for the Kiwis, who led 19-5 at halftime and ran in six tries.

New Zealand were even more dominant against the North Americans, as Kelsey Teneti grabbed an early try double, before Canada could find the scoreboard. Former rugby league and current rugby XVs international Katelyn Vahaakolo had her first international try in the sevens format, as the five-time champions topped their pool to earn a knockout showdown with Ireland on Sunday evening (NZT).

Cody Vai in action for the All Blacks Sevens. (Source: Getty)

Japan face Great Britain, Canada scrape through to meet defending champions Australia, while USA take on France.

The All Blacks Sevens were not so quick to pick up the pieces. With a core of veterans retiring, several others committing to Super Rugby Pacific and emerging star Moses Leo signing with NRL club Melbourne Storm, the Kiwi men overcame USA in their opening game, but fell to the Spanish (26-14) and Fiji (21-12).

They qualified for the quarterfinals as one of the two best third-placed teams — along with Australia — and now face archrivals South Africa for a spot in the semis.

The Aussies must overcome Argentina, Olympic champions France meet Fiji and Spain take on Great Britain.