Cape Town - The pools for Round 7 of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series over the weekend of April 8-10 have been confirmed, alongside the core team qualifier competition set to take place in Hong Kong.
Canada Sevens winners New Zealand head Pool A and will face Samoa, France and Kenya, while series leaders and defending champions Fiji will meet Wales, in a repeat of the 2013 final, Canada and Korea.
Runners-up in Canada, South Africa await Scotland, England and Russia, while Australia meet USA, Argentina and Portugal in Pool C.
As well as the main competition, there is also a 12-team tournament with the winner qualifying as a core team for the 2016-17 Series, which was won by Russia in 2015 and Japan in 2014.
The Qualifier teams are Morocco and Zimbabwe (Africa), Hong Kong and Japan (Asia), Germany and Spain (Europe), Cayman Islands and Mexico (North America), Brazil and Chile (South America) and Papua New Guinea and Tonga (Oceania). Alongside debutants the Cayman Islands, Germany appears for the first time since 1992.
For the 12-team Qualifier draw, the teams were banded into four groups of three teams each by World Rugby, based on their performances on the Series and at other international sevens events over the preceding two years.
Pool E features Zimbabwe, hosts Hong Kong, Germany and debutants the Cayman Islands. Pool F comprises Spain, Chile, Papua New Guinea and Mexico, while lining up in Pool G are Japan, Tonga, Brazil and Morocco.
“With the top 15 teams here, and the Rio Olympics just around the corner, the Hong Kong Sevens is going to be even more exciting than usual,” said Hong Kong coach and former Wales sevens international Gareth Baber.
“In the Hong Kong team, it's always our aim to get into semi-finals and finals. We did it in the qualifying for Rio against Japan but we've not been able to do the same at the last two Hong Kong Sevens. So that's our ambition this - African News Agency (ANA)