Japan women won all three of their HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series qualifier matches in a hotly contested day of competition.
Having been relegated from the series last season they will be hoping for an automatic return to the series and will face hosts Hong Kong on day two in the quarter finals.
Alongside Kenya and Brazil, Japan were one of three teams with an unblemished report at the end of day one.
Kazakhstan also still have hopes of reaching the series after winning one of their three pool matches in Hong Kong to reach the last eight, alongside Hong Kong who booked their place in the quarter finals with a 26-5 win over Uganda.
Yoko Suzuki and captain Chiharu Nakamura both scored twice in Japan’s opening 54-0 win over Mexico before Honoka Tsutsumi crossed for two tries in a 27-19 win against Scotland.
The Sakura Sevens wrapped up an impressive day one by beating Belgium 35-0 with Suzuki taking her try tally to four with two further tries in the win.
Hosts Hong Kong put in a brave performance in their opening match, coming from 22-0 behind to narrowly lose 22-14 to Papua New Guinea.
But their moment in the sun came in their third and final pool match against Uganda, winning 26-5 to set up a match-up against Japan.
Kazakhstan were in perhaps the most competitive pool with Brazil, Poland and Argentina their opponents. Despite opening with a 17-12 win over Argentina they went on to lost 14-12 and 12-10 to Brazil and Poland respectively.
But their points difference proved decisive as they finished ahead of Poland and they now meet Brazil in the quarter finals, a repeat of their penultimate pool match.
