An injury to Black Ferns Sevens star Portia Woodman has mired an otherwise brilliant start to the Commonwealth Games by the New Zealand Sevens sides.
Woodman scored the Black Ferns' first try of the Games in their opening match against Canada but injured her ankle in a collision off a kickoff shortly after. She could barely put any weight on her right ankle as she was helped off the park by the physio and the Black Ferns will be sweating on her fitness for the rest of the tournament.
An NZOC official told 1News following the match Woodman had sprained her ankle in the awkward contact and would be rested for Saturday morning's [NZT] game against Sri Lanka.
Despite having lost one of their key players, the Black Ferns were clinical in sinking Canada 45-7.
Canada conceded several early penalties that eventuated in Renee Gonzalez being sent to the bin.
The Black Ferns immediately took advantage, swinging the ball from left to right where a wide-open Woodman was able to jog over for the first try.
Michaela Blyde doubled the advantage shortly after, finding herself in acres of space out on the left wing after Shiray Kaka through a perfectly-weighted ball over the top of the last Canadian defender.
The Black Ferns went into the break with a 17-0 lead, with Stacey Fluhler fighting through a tackle to touch down in the right corner on the stroke of halftime.
Blyde showed her amazing pace again early in the second half, bursting through a tackle and blitzing past the help defenders to touch down under the posts.
Canada managed to hit back with a try of their own through Chloe Daniels, but the Black Ferns continued to rack up the points down the stretch, with Kelly Brazier and Risaleaana Pouri-Lane ripping apart the Canadian defence to score under the posts.
The Black Ferns capped off a dominant opening day victory with a try full of flair and skill right on the final horn.
Running from midfield to the right wing, Sarah Hirini played a no-look behind-the-back pass to Fluhler who parried it to Alena Saili to step past the last defender and score.
The All Blacks Sevens were equally dominant in their opening fixture, coming away with a 63-5 victory over Sri Lanka, although the highlight of the match was a brilliant counter-attacking try by the Sri Lankans that sent the crowd wild.
Scott Curry opened the scoring within the first 90 seconds, bolting through a huge gap on Sri Lanka's 22. It was a sign of things to come as Ngarohi McGarvey-Black did the same at the halfway line off the restart.
Sione Molia scored the third after a Joe Webber skip-pass found him in acres of space on the left wing. Webber himself scored the fourth and it quickly looked like the All Blacks Sevens would put up a huge scoreline.
But Sri Lanka were determined to put a stamp on the game and they did so in superb style.
On a rare occasion of having ball in hand, the Sri Lankans showed they could play with the best, swinging the ball from the right wing to left where Ravindu Hettiarachchi beat his man and put through a kick as Collier pressured him on the wing.
It looked like the All Blacks had it covered but Curry was deceived by the bounce, allowing Ashan Ratwatte to grab it and dive over for a historic try.
The All Blacks piled on the tries early in the second half, with Dylan Collier, Akuila Rokolisoa both scoring and McGarvey-Black grabbing his second.
Molia and Caleb Tangitau scored in the dying moments to wrap up a comfortable win.
Saturday will see the Black Ferns Sevens take on Sri Lanka and the All Blacks Sevens facing Samoa.
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