The exciting Hong Kong leg of the IRB Sevens series 2011/12 kicks off this weekend on Friday night, with the rest of the pool stage games completing on Saturday, semis and finals on Sunday.
The competition has been enlarged this year and has 6 pools of 4 teams, this means the format will see the usual 12 teams compete in pools A, B and C and from this they will progress to the Cup, Plate and Bowl as per usual.
The teams in D, E and F will compete and the best teams will go through to the Shield. All those failing to reach the Shield will play ranking matches to decide their final positions.
Here are the Pools
Pool A: Samoa, England, Argentina, Kenya
Pool B: New Zealand, South Africa, Wales, United States
Pool C: Fiji, Australia, France, Scotland
Pool D: Tonga, Uruguay, Hong Kong, China
Pool E: Canada, Spain, Zimbabwe, Philippines
Pool F: Portugal, Russia, Japan, Guyana
We have listed the fixtures and our predictions in bold for both day one and two, we will update you at the end of day one. Our tips for those progressing to the cup 1/4 finals are Pool’A’ Samoa and England, Pool’B’ New Zealand and South Africa, Pool’C’ Fiji and Australia.
Fixtures Day One Fri 23/3/2012
All Times Local (Live on SkySports 2 UK Friday 07:45 to 12:45)
01 16:00 PORTUGAL v GUYANA Pool F
02 16:22 CANADA v PHILIPPINES Pool E
03 16:44 TONGA v CHINA Pool D
04 17:06 FIJI v SCOTLAND Pool C
05 17:28 NEW ZEALAND v UNITED STATES Pool B
06 17:50 SAMOA v KENYA Pool A
07 18:40 RUSSIA v JAPAN Pool F
08 19:02 SPAIN v ZIMBABWE Pool E
09 19:24 URUGUAY v HONG KONG Pool D
10 19:46 AUSTRALIA v FRANCE Pool C
11 20:08 SOUTH AFRICA v WALES Pool B
12 20:30 ENGLAND v ARGENTINA Pool A
Fixtures Day Two Sat 24/3/2012
Local Time ( Live SkySports 3 06:30 to 12:00)
13 09:30 RUSSIA v GUYANA Pool F
14 09:52 SPAIN v PHILIPPINES Pool E
15 10:14 URUGUAY v CHINA Pool D
16 10:36 AUSTRALIA v SCOTLAND Pool C
17 10:58 SOUTH AFRICA v UNITED STATES Pool B
18 11:20 ENGLAND v KENYA Pool A
19 12:26 PORTUGAL v JAPAN Pool F
20 12:48 CANADA v ZIMBABWE Pool E
21 13:10 TONGA v HONG KONG Pool D
22 13:32 FIJI v FRANCE Pool C
23 13:54 NEW ZEALAND v WALES Pool B
24 14:16 SAMOA v ARGENTINA Pool A
25 14:38 JAPAN v GUYANA Pool F
26 15:00 ZIMBABWE v PHILIPPINES Pool E
27 15:22 HONG KONG v CHINA Pool D
28 15:44 FRANCE v SCOTLAND Pool C
29 16:06 WALES v UNITED STATES Pool B
30 16:28 ARGENTINA v KENYA Pool A
31 17:40 PORTUGAL v RUSSIA Pool F
32 18:02 CANADA v SPAIN Pool E
33 18:24 TONGA v URUGUAY Pool D
34 18:46 FIJI v AUSTRALIA Pool C
35 19:08 NEW ZEALAND v SOUTH AFRICA Pool B
36 19:30 SAMOA v ENGLAND Pool A