In front of a raucous 39,098 strong crowd at the 40th edition of this event, the Blitzboks' Seabelo Senatla ran in a hat-trick of tries in a dominant 29-7 victory over France, which came after they had thrashed Japan 27-0 in their opening match, which ensured they finished top of Pool C.

South Africa will now face Australia in the last eight, while Fiji secured their quarter-final berth after they also racked up two victories on the second day.

They cruised to a 38-7 success over a hapless Belgian side before they thumped Canada 45-0 to set up a meeting with England, who came second in Pool D behind the United States on points differential.

The two sides played out a thrilling 21-21 draw, in which America's Maka Unafe and Jeff Williams of England both managed to cross over the line twice.

Elsewhere, New Zealand, who trail South Africa by five points in the overall World Rugby Sevens series standings, recovered from a shock 24-24 draw with Portugal to beat arch-rivals Australia 14-5, thanks largely to two tries from Rieko Loane.

New Zealand's Rieko Loane bagged a double in the 14-5 win over Australia ©World Rugby



The top four sides at the end of the nine-leg series will secure qualification for Rio 2016, where rugby will be making its return to the Olympic programme for the first time in 92 years. 

In the World Series qualifying competition, where teams are battling it out for a place in the 2015-2016 event, Papua New Guinea's Wesley Vali bagged a treble as his side beat Uruguay 38-10, and they will now face Russia in the semi-finals after they thrashed Hong Kong 24-0.

The defeat for the host nation was their fourth qualification loss in a row at this stage as their wait for a place in the full competition goes on.

The other semi-final will see Zimbabwe entertain Spain after the African side proved too strong for Brazil, eventually progressing thanks to a 21-14 win.

Spain's contest with South Korea was a much more straightforward affair as last year's relegated core side were in rampant form, running in seven tries on their way to a 47-7 victory.

Action continues tomorrow with the conclusion of the main event as well as the semi-finals and final of the qualification competition.

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