While the USA Eagles clinched their place in France next year with an emphatic 75-20 aggregate win over Uruguay, action continued elsewhere with the first matches in Europe's Round 5 as well as in Africa.
Italy made their intentions clear in pool A with a convincing 83-0 win over Portugal.
In pool B, meanwhile, Romania also got their campaign off to a strong start with a 20-8 victory over Georgia.
Namibia and Morocco through to Africa final
In Africa Namibia and Morocco both won crucial victories in their pools. Namibia beat off the strong challenge of Tunisia 23-15 in Windhoek, while tries for Boutati Abdelatif and Micheal Mocktar helped Morocco to a 23-7 win over Ivory Coast, whose sole effort came from Sela Koffie.
Namibia host Morocco in Windhoek on 28 October in the first leg of the African qualifying final with the return leg to be played in Casablanca on 11 November.
