Fijian playmaker Akuila Rokolisoa, who has links to Fiji, inspired New Zealand to the Cup quarter-final of the Sydney 7s after thrashing Kenya 33-nil in their second Pool B match today.
The Hamilton 7s runners up dominated the entire match not giving away any opportunity to the Kenya’s to touch the ball.
Rokolisoa broke the deadlock in the second minute from a Joe Webber set up and converted for a 7-nil lead.
A minute later, Rokolisoa’s and Webbers combination played a huge role allowing Sione Molia to dive at the corner flag and score the second try but the conversion was unsuccessful.
Kenya secured a chance to score a try from Denis Abukuse but he was denied by the strong All Blacks back line.
Minutes before the break, Dylian Collier extended New Zealand’s lead with their third try as he bulldozed through the Kenya defender and Rokolisoa converted.
New Zealand led by 19-nil at the break.
Both teams tussled hard to the extreme level in the second spell while a ball lost forward by New Zealand opened up a chance for Kenya yet they failed to take advantage.
Coming off the bench, former basketballer Roderick Solo overturned the ball from the Kenya scrum and ran to his breath for another try and this time Ngarohi McGarvey-Black converted for a 26-nil lead.
In the final play of the match, Lewis Ormond scored the consolation try for New Zealand and Black converted to seal the win.
New Zealand overcame Uruguay 25-7 in its first match.
They will meet South Africa in the last pool match at 4.49 pm today.
