The Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens is the next round to take centre stage in the world of rugby sevens.
Alongside the main men’s competition, the seventh round of the World Series, two qualifier tournaments will take place from 6-8 March.
The 12-team tournaments have always been one of the highlights in the rugby sevens calendar with just one team qualifying for the World Series.
In the men’s competition Japan, who will be looking to return to the top tier, have been drawn alongside Uganda, Chile and Georgia.
Hosts Hong Kong will face Papua new Guinea, Germany and Zimbabwe.
Hong Kong Sevens head coach Paul John said: “Whatever pool we will be in will be difficult. We went to Germany in pre-season so we know them quite well.
“But we all know what happened last year in our quarter-final, and Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe have World Series experience, so it is an exciting challenge.”
Captain Ben Rimene added: “There has been some tough training since January. We were lucky enough to go to Fiji, but now our sole focus is the upcoming sevens this weekend in Borneo and this qualifier.
In the women’s draw hosts Hong Kong will face China and Kazakhstan, as well as Brazil.
“We play them a lot, we know their styles, and I think we have a really good chance,” said Christy Cheng.
“We don’t want to look too far, play game by game, focus on ourselves but we are excited to have a chance to play in a stadium at home.”
John added: “We have drawn a couple of sides we know a lot about, from the Asian Series. It is a difficult group, but we have a fighting chance.”
