Seattle and New York are just weeks away from the World Club 7s in London and today both teams learned their draw and schedule for the event. Seattle has the toughest draw among the two. They are in Pool C with Auckland, the Waratahs, and Kuban Krasnodar. Auckland made the final of last year's tournament and are expected to once again field of team of top 7s players and a few former/current All Black 7s player. The Waratahs are coming off a season in which they finished at the top of the Super Rugby table. That may not translate directly into 7s success but it can't hurt. Krasnador were one of the weaker sides at last year's tournament finishing with a win in Shield but went winless in pool play.
New York on paper has a slightly easier draw. They are in Pool A with Western Province, the winner of the Premiership 7s, and Russian side RC Enisei. Western Province finished 11th of 12 in last year's competition. They took a very young team last year but there is no guarantee they will do the same this year. This is the first year that Enisei are participating. The winner of the Premiership 7s will come in with lots of momentum and should be a tough team to beat.
Take the jump to read more.
Last year New York finished with the Plate while SFGG, the other U.S. entry, took eighth place. The American teams surprised a lot of people at last year's tournament and it can easily be argued that this year's contingent is even stronger. New York have had another full year to fine tune their program while Seattle could rival some national teams on the IRB Sevens Series. In addition, New York will have the chance to get a run out at the Limerick 7s the week before.
Pool B features Gloucester, the Blue Bulls, Cardiff, and Buenos Aires. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the Cup round along with the top two second place sides. Given the level of talent on each team both U.S. sides are expected to advance.
6:30 a.m. et/3:30 a.m. pt: New York vs. RC Enisei
8:25 a.m. et/5:25 a.m. pt: Waratahs vs. Seattle
9:38 a.m. et/6:38 a.m. pt: New York vs. Western Province
11:14 a.m. et/8:14 a.m. pt: Auckland vs. Seattle
12:00 a.m. et/9:00 a.m. pt: New York vs. Premiership 7s Winner
1:32 p.m. et/10:32 a.m. pt: Seattle vs. Kuban Krasnodar