Sri Lanka was handed a punishing 59-0 defeat by New Zealand in a lop sided match in Pool C of the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament, which began at the Hong Kong Stadium, in Hong Kong on Friday.

New Zealand did well under tough playing conditions to run down nine tries with Lote Raikabula scoring a hat-trick of tries. Most of the matches were affected by rain.

Leading Sri Lankan referee Dilroy Fernando commenting on the Sri Lanka vs New Zealand match said, "The game just exposed the gap in skills between the two sides. There was no comparison, New Zealand played like true professional. That’s the reality," said Fernando.

According to reports from Hong Kong, Sri Lankans had received just scraps of possession and their defense hadn’t been tight enough to halt the onslaught by All Blacks.

"We missed a lot of tackles. When we had the ball they quickly tackled and won back possession. Sri Lanka was outplayed in the match," said Fernando who added that he caught the rugby action in Hong Kong Sevens on satellite television.

According to Fernando, All Blacks had fired all cylinders against Sri Lanka because the team requires all possible points in this IRB sevens circuit where the ongoing Hong Kong Sevens serves as the fifth leg in the series. "I believe All Blacks didn’t hold back anything against us because points count in this series, especially in the case of there being ties," Fernando said.

All top seeded team like South Africa (Pool A), England (Pool B), New Zealand (Pool C), Argentina (Pool D), Fiji (Pool E) and Kenya (Pool F) won their opening matches. Only the winner in each pool is guarantied a berth in the Cup Championship quarter-finals.

Apart from New Zealand, England recorded the highest score in the tournament beating China 54 points to nil. England coach Ben Ryan was quoted in AP saying, "They were ruthless. That’s what I asked the boys to be and that’s what they were".

Samoa went through some anxious moments before beating Canada 14-10 while West Indies gave favourites Kenya a tough time before going down fighting 10-17.

Rugby World Champions Wales, playing without most of their regulars, struggled to beat Japan 14-5.

Pool A –South Africa beat South Korea 29-7, France beat Uruguay 17-5

Pool B- England beat China 54-0, Wales beat Japan 14-5

Pool C – New Zealand beat Sri Lanka 59-0, Australia beat Zimbabwe 33-5

Pool D- Argentina beat Hong Kong 28-0, Tonga beat Portugal 17-5

Pool E- Fiji beat Chinese Taipei 33-0, Samoa beat Canada 14-10

Pool F- Kenya beat West Indies 17-10, Scotland beat United States 19-17