Perfect start for Ireland Sevens

Ireland won a physical encounter in oppressive heat and humidity against the hosts yesterday in Group D of the Hong Kong Sevens, while the group and overall tournament favourites, New Zealand, came within seconds of a shock defeat against dark horses Croatia.

Ireland faced Croatia early this morning, then had a five-hour break before tackling New Zealand.

Against Hong Kong, Denis McBride's young seven took an early lead through a fine try by Leinster and Ireland back Kevin Nowlan. Fergal Campion missed the drop-kick conversion. Ireland increased their lead to 10-0 in first half injury time when Brian Carey ran the length of the field to score in the corner. He failed narrowly to add the conversion.

Seconds into the second half, Ireland went further ahead with a try out of nothing by John McWeeney. Campion again missed the conversion.

The powerful home seven, cheered on by a vociferous crowd of almost 20,000, came back at the Irish in the second half, with a brace of tries by Carl Murray, both of which he converted. Hong Kong proceeded to put Ireland under severe pressure, which told through injuries to two members of the squad, including skipper Dominic Crotty, as the Irish put in crucial, try-saving tackles to hold the line.

Hong Kong's squad of multinational imports, at 14-15 down, looked likely to make the Irish rue their missed goal kicks as they piled the pressure on late into the game. Then Ulster's James Topping settled jangling nerves with a last-minute try which was again not converted.

A much relieved McBride declared himself "satisfied with the team's overall performance against an excellent Hong Kong outfit", and "pleased with the way the players stuck to their task during a difficult second half".

Before heading off to review the extent of the injuries, McBride said: "It was a very, very hard game, the players worked well for each other, but we committed the cardinal sin of sevens by giving the ball away too much. But a win is a win under any circumstances."

Crotty, who took a head knock, thought "the match against Croatia, who looked mighty impressive against the All Blacks, is the next focus in our `one game at a time' approach, and we'll not even consider New Zealand until that one is out of the way". Crotty added that the so-called "Group of Death is still winnable, especially after a successful opener".

Earlier, Croatia, who have seven Kiwi-born players in their ranks, gave the mighty All Blacks a fright, but a last-minute converted try secured a 17-12 victory for skipper Eric Rush's much fancied seven.

Scotland cruised through their opening match against Tonga 2112, while defending champions Fiji crushed Thailand 63-0 in the other match in Scotland's group. The former Leicester out-half Waisale Serevi scored 17 points with one try and six conversions.

France and Canada also had easy opening matches. France whipped Sri Lanka 52-7, and Canada trounced the United States 40-5.

West Samoa, who lost to Fiji in last year's final, crushed Singapore 59-5.