A superb individual try by Tim Mikkelson helped New Zealand to a 19-5 victory against Samoa as they finished day one of the Wellington Sevens with a perfect winning record.
The only downside to the day for Gordon Tietjens' men was Toby Arnold being ruled out of the remainder of the tournament after injuring his knee in the opening win against Scotland.
The final match of the day at Westpac Stadium was not completely trouble-free however, as a streaker made it on to the pitch and tackled Samoa's Alatasi Tupou to the ground forcing a halt to play.
It had little bearing on the result though as by that stage New Zealand were already 19-0 ahead.
Frank Halai showed his power to get the New Zealanders on the scoreboard early but it was Mikkelson's length of the field effort that brought the crowd to its feet just before half-time.
Tomasi Cama appeared to have run himself into trouble when he shipped the ball on to Mikkelson. But the Waikato speedster broke clear and turned the Samoan defence inside out in his 85 metre dash to the line to put New Zealand 12-0 up at the break.
Solomon King stretched the lead further early in the second spell before the streaker's intrusion.
But Samoa had the final say with Alafoti Faosiliva going over just before full-time.
The win means New Zealand will play France in the opening Cup quarterfinal on Saturday.
France sneaked into runners-up spot in pool D after going through on points difference following a final round 10-10 draw with Australia.
The Canucks proved their earlier win over France was no fluke by downing Kenya 21-14 in their final match of day one to qualify in top spot and they will face Samoa in the Cup last eight.
Kenya were the biggest disappointment as they finished bottom of the pool behind third-placed Australia.
South Africa were the only other team to go through day one unbeaten after they came from behind to defeat England 14-10 to take top spot in pool B.
The Blitzbokke looked in ominous form in holding the United States and Cook Island scoreless in their opening two matches but had to battle hard to get past the 2009 Wellington champions.
South Africa however, face a tricky Cup quarterfinal against pool C runners-up Fiji, who had to beat Wales - which they did comfortably 19-0 - to qualify for the last eight after going down 14-17 to Tonga earlier in the day.
England will meet Tonga who topped pool C.
The quarterfinal bowl matches will see Scotland play Kenya, Wales take on the United States, Australia face Japan and the Cook Islands play Argentina.