Zar Lawrence scored two tries to inspire his teammates to an emotionally-charged 17-5 win in the pool decider against great rivals Australia, who also qualify for the Cup quarter finals as the second best runners.

An extra motivation will have been felt by all the New Zealanders in support of Lawrence, whose brother Wiremu tragically died in a car accident overnight.

The New Zealand vice captain will stay with the team in Hong Kong, and then returns to New Zealand for his brother's funeral before rejoining the squad to compete in Adelaide next weekend.

Meanwhile, captain DJ Forbes has confirmed the team will be wearing armbands for Zar's little brother, and the Gordon Tietjens coached side has a lot of things to play for, especially for Zar and they really want to fire up for it.