WALES will face Fiji in the quarter-finals of the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens at the Telstra Dome, Melbourne.

Coach David Rees' side today recorded victories over Kenya and Namibia to go through to the knockout stages.

Their day started in disappointing fashion with a comprehensive defeat by New Zealand. The All Blacks, pre-tournament favourites to take gold, scored five tries on the way to a 35-10 victory .

Wales got off to the worst possible start, conceding a try in the first minute when Soseni Anesi dived over between the posts after a loose Welsh pass.

Wales struggled to get out of their own 22 is a poor first half and fell 14-0 behind when NZ captain Tafai Ioasa powered over.

Wales went out for the second half looking a different side and scored two tries almost immediately to get themselves back in the game.

Penzance scrum-half Rhodri Mcatee scored the first, diving over in the corner for a try which Neath's James Hook failed to convert.

And Cardiff Blues captain Rhys Williams made it 14-10 with Wales' second unconverted try. But they were Wales' last points of the game, New Zealand moving up a couple of gears to secure victory.

Converted tries from Cory Jane (2) and Justin Messam made it 35-10 to the All Blacks and to compound Wales misery they were reduced to six men when Jonathan Edwards was yellow carded for throwing a punch.

Rees said: "We put ourselves under a lot of pressure early on and we just couldn't get the ball out of our defence.

"We didn't have enough urgency early on but towards the end of the game we showed more with two well worked tries."

But Wales stepped up their performance with a comprehensive 33-0 victory over Kenya, scoring three first half tries through Wayne Evans, Richie Pugh and James Merriman and two second half efforts from Tal Selley and Jonathan Edwards, Hook converting four.

Fiji set the standard on the opening day, but Rees is bullish about his side's chances against them.

He said: "Fiji look the team to beat but if we can turn in a similar performance to the one we had against Kenya then we will be competitive.

"It is a big ask but the players are improving all the time and with experience we are getting better.

"There are some young players in this squad and they are relishing playing in this sort of environment."

In their final game of the day Wales played their best rugby, recording a comprehensive 40-7 victory over Namibia with tries from Rhodri Mcatee, James Hook, Richie Pugh, Jonny Vaughton, Jonathan Edwards and Tal Selley as well as five Hook conversions.

Namibia's try was scored by Ronaldo Pedro late in the second half, Dirk Lintvelt adding the extras.

The other quarter-finalists, apart from Fiji, looked set to be New Zealand, Canada, England, Australia, Samoa and Tonga.