New Zealand cemented their status as favourites on day one of the women's Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, thrashing the hosts 50-0 before another dominant win over Great Britain.
The Black Ferns come into the season's penultimate competition in imperious form, having won the last four tournaments, and scored 15 tries with no points conceded in Pool C.
Four of those tries came from veteran Stacey Waaka, who voiced her excitement at playing in the World Rugby Sevens Series' first stop in Hong Kong.
"It's wicked," she said after a 43-0 demolition of Great Britain.
Michaela Blyde is absolutely flying ??#HSBC7s | #HK7s | @nz_sevens pic.twitter.com/Jm7CIMKHLE
— World Rugby 7s (@WorldRugby7s) March 31, 2023
"The crowd here is amazing, we've been told about this tournament for so long... we're here now, we made it. We can't wait for the weekend."
She said the team were not perfect despite their dominant start, highlighting "accuracy and consistency" as areas for improvement.
"We put a lot of points on the board but it's the little things, the little errors, that count in big-pressure moments," she said.
Second-placed Australia are still on their tail in the series but it would take a breathtaking collapse for the New Zealanders to let the title slip.
This year's tour also serves as Olympic qualifying, with the top four teams automatically heading to Paris 2024.
Under lingering Hong Kong drizzle, fourth-placed France -- who automatically qualify for Paris as hosts -- also made a good start to the three-day tournament in Pool C, downing Japan 38-7 before beating neighbours Spain 45-0.
Montserrat Amedee and Seraphine Okemba notched three tries apiece across Les Bleues' two opening games.
But they are yet to play the USA, who sit third in the series standings and also notched two wins against the same opponents.
In Pool B, Fiji and Australia got off to unbeaten starts, both seeing off Brazil and Ireland.
The final round of the women's series will be held in Toulouse, France, in May.
