HSBC SVNS: Slick Argentina among quartet with two wins on opening day in Vancouver

"We like the place, the stadium and the crowd," Marcos Moneta said after helping Argentina to victory over Great Britain at Vancouver's BC Place. "Every time we come here we feel the same thing."

Los Pumas are on the cusp of 20 consecutive wins at the venue and, on Friday's showing, will take some stopping in the fourth HSBC SVNS event of the season.

POOL A: Argentina set the pace

Argentina followed a dominant display against Kenya with a superb first-half showing against Great Britain, which proved enough to hold off a late fightback.

They had the thrilling Moneta to thank for a hat-trick against their African opponents, who did not help their cause by having two players sin-binned for deliberate knock-downs.

Joaquin Pellandini feigned to pass but then dropped his shoulder to score Argentina's only points after the break as they won 24-0. 

In their second match on Friday, Luciano Gonzalez powered through to score twice and Matteo Graziano once against Great Britain in a stylish display that had their opponents trailing 19-0 at half-time. Great Britain refused to wilt and Sunni Jardine rounded off a fine team try and Luke Mehson's side step and sprint made for a tense finish but Argentina held on for a 19-14 victory, their 19th on the trot in Vancouver.

Great Britain had opened their account in British Columbia with a 26-7 win over France, picking their moments to break through the French defence and dominating possession. Charlton Kerr scored a brace, though the try of the match was surely that of Les Bleus' Jordan Sepho, who burst up the right wing with astonishing speed. France recovered from that setback to beat Kenya 33-7 and sit third behind Argentina and Great Britain.

POOL B: New Zealand and Australia face nervy Saturday

Philip Snyman's South Africa are clear at the top of Pool B with two wins, the tigerish 30-year-old Selvyn Davids at the heart of their best work in their 12-10 win over New Zealand and their 28-7 triumph against Ireland.

Quewin Nortje and New Zealand's Tone Ng Shiu had traded scores early on, but when Andrew Knewstubb was sin-binned the Blitzboks' Ronald Brown made the extra player count by making a linebreak and scoring to make it 12-5. Knewstubb was on hand to grasp Dylan Collier's offload as the Kiwis cut the deficit but the try scorer missed the conversion that would have earned a draw.

The energetic James Turner was instrumental in Australia's 17-7 win over a young Ireland team. His team-mate Matthew Gonzalez scored the only try of a first half that seemed to exhaust both sets of players. Australia found the energy to score through Hayden Sargeant and, after a charge-down in the opposite corner, Turner ran over for a 17-0 lead before Hugo Lennox's late try for Ireland.

In the pool's final match of the opening day, New Zealand got the better of rivals Australia, with Joe Webber, Ng Shiu and Collier the scorers in a 17-7 win. While holding only a five-point lead, New Zealand's Sofai Maka looked certain to score in the corner but opted to throw a risky pass to Collier to collect and tumble over in a more central position for the ultimately unsuccessful conversion.

POOL C: Free-scoring Fiji and Spain in charge

Fiji and Spain go into Saturday's pool match with two wins apiece. The Flying Fijians scored 71 points across their wins over Uruguay and USA, yet for a spell they were a player short and 12-0 down against the South Americans thanks to Waisea Nacuqu's yellow card and tries by Alfonso Chahnazaroff and Juan Gonzalez.

Fiji responded with devastating power and pace, six players scoring a try each to turn the game on its head as they ran out 38-12 winners. Uruguay lost their second match, against Spain, by the same score, once more six different players getting on the scoresheet for their opponents.

In Fiji's match against USA, they led 14-12 at half-time as Pita Vi's kick-and-chase and Will Chevalier's dart from the back of the scrum kept the States in contention. The loping stride of Joseva Talacolo helped him score a second try of the match to ease Fiji's worries before the dancing feet of Viwa Naduvalo and then Joji Nasova made it 33-12.

In the meeting between Spain and USA, Lucas Lacamp put the latter ahead but Spain rallied through the probing of veteran Pol Pla until he had to go off after taking a knee to the face when Aaron Cummings leapt to catch the ball. Anton Legorburu Anso levelled for Spain while Cummings was off and Jeremy Trevithick scored between the posts for a 14-7 lead. Jacob Broselle's late score set the stage for Steve Tomasin to secure a draw with the conversion but he made a poor connection with his kick.