Sydney 7s to kick off today

The HSBC Sydney 7s will kick off today and it will be the first time the women’s event will be fully combined with the men’s tournament with all matches over the three days, including last day finals, being played at Allianz Stadium.

With incumbent men's series champions South Africa winning Dubai and New Zealand winning Cape Town there is all to play for in the Sydney 7s.

The Blitzboks won the Sydney Sevens last year, beating England in the final, and the South Africans are keen to defend their trophy and close the gap on New Zealand in the current series standings.

The Fiji Airways Men’s National 7s team will be seeking to improve their performance and series points after a disappointing semi‑final loss in Dubai and a fifth-place finish in Cape Town.

Always crowd favourites in Sydney, Fiji will get plenty of support as they seek to win their first tournament since Hong Kong last year.

Coach Gareth Baber says they are ready for this weekend.

For both the men and women there are also Rugby World Cup Sevens seedings points up for grabs.

Seedings points will be earned in tournaments leading up to RWC Sevens in San Francisco in July and will crucially determine the draw for both tournaments.

Meanwhile, Fiji will play their first game against Samoa at 8.28 tonight.

The Samoan team was based in Wellington for almost a month and they will definitely come out firing against Fiji tonight.

Fiji play Russia in their second game at 5.09pm tomorrow before taking on New Zealand at 8.42pm tomorrow.

The quarterfinals will start at 12.28pm on Sunday, the semifinals are at 6.36pm while the final will kick off at 9.48pm.

In the women’s competition, the Fijiana will be playing their first game against defending champion Canada at 11.22am today.