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 TEIVOVO.COM – INTERNATIONAL 7s
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Wednesday 21 February 2007
Fiji get good draw for Hong Kong 7s
The Digicel Fiji 7s side have been drawn in a relatively straight-forward pool for the three-day IRB Hong Kong 7s that kicks off on 30 March.
The world champions currently lie joint top in the standings with New Zealand and head Pool A, which includes Scotland, Portugal and Sri Lanka at the 40,000-seater Hong Kong Stadium.
Each of the top four seeds have won an IRB 7s World Series event so far this season, with defending Hong Kong champions England out to capture a first Cup title.
South Africa won the season opener in Dubai; New Zealand won in George, South Africa; Samoa won in Wellington and Fiji won the USA 7s in San Diego.
As second seed, South Africa heads Pool B and face a tough group challenge from Wales, Tonga and Chinese Taipei.
Samoa, on the strength of their last six tournaments in which they have made four finals and won their first Cup title in Wellington, are third seeds and top pool C, where Canada lie in wait alongside two Asian sides in Japan and China.
George winners New Zealand top pool D and are drawn with the unpredictable Kenyans as well as two of the qualifiers from Europe's FIRA 7s circuit, Russia and Italy.
Pool E features the tournament's fifth seed England, who enjoy strong support in Hong Kong and have won the last four Hong Kong 7s. Under new coach Ben Ryan, the English will take on Argentina, Korea and hosts Hong Kong.
Due to the seeding structure in Hong Kong, Pool F is traditionally one of the most competitive and this year is no different.
France top the group as sixth seeds and face Australia, the ever improving Tunisians and the USA, winners of the Shield trophy at their home event in San Diego.
"The 2006-07 Series has been hugely competitive so far, best highlighted by the fact that we've had different winners at each of the first four fantastic events,” the IRB's Beth Coalter said.
”With the teams’ positions so delicately poised it's even easier than normal to get excited about Hong Kong.”
"The teams have always enjoyed the event in the past and with the extra points on offer I'm sure that they'll all do their best to take the strongest squads possible," Coalter said.
"It's all shaping up to be a fantastic event and with broadcast coverage of the series at an all time high and more people than ever will be watching."
With the Series title race so tight, the 30 series points up for grabs for the Cup champion in Hong Kong could be crucial in deciding this year's overall champion.
Fiji and New Zealand are tied on top of the IRB World 7s Series with 60 points each, closely followed by South Africa with 56. Samoa lies at third place with 48 points and not far behind England follow with 36 points.
IRB Hong Kong 7s Pools:
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POOL A
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POOL B
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POOL C
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POOL D
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POOL E
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POOL F
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Fiji
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South Africa
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Samoa
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New Zealand
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England
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France
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Portugal
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Wales
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Canada
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Kenya
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Argentina
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Australia
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Scotland
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Tonga
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Japan
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Russia
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Korea
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Tunisia
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Sri Lanka
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Taiwan
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China
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Italy
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Hong Kong
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USA
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International 7s main page
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