Watch all three days of the 2019 Dubai Sevens live on Sky Sports Arena on Thursday, Friday and Saturday
Wednesday 4 December 2019 16:08, UK
The World Sevens Series kicks into gear this week as the elite men's and women's teams in the world descend on Dubai for their annual visit.
A total of 16 men's teams will battle it out for glory in the first event of the 2019/20 campaign, while 12 teams are going head-to-head in the second women's sevens tournament of the season.
We take a look at some of the talking points ahead of the Dubai Sevens, which is live on Sky Sports and marks the start of final preparations for next year's Olympic Games…
This year's Dubai Sevens is the 50th edition of the tournament which has grown from being a small club competition to bringing together the elite of the men's and women's games to battle it out on the world stage.
First contested in 1970 and won by the Staffordshire Regiment, the Dubai Sevens is now held at a venue with 16 pitches, along with social and youth tournaments being played alongside the main event at the 32,000-seater Sevens Stadium.
It became a leg of the World Sevens Series in 1999 and USA head coach Mike Friday has seen first-hand how it has evolved from his days playing club rugby and for England's sevens team.
"We played at the Dubai Exiles rugby club and we played on sand," Friday told Sky Sports. "It was compacted sand and what made it different and special was you just went to the desert.
"It was very much a global, cosmopolitan feel at a serious club level and there were some serious players there.
"It's a true rugby festival where rugby is at the centre of the festival."
New Zealand come into the tournament as defending champions and having won the Dubai Sevens for a record seventh time in 2019.
It is a similar story in the women's competition, where the Black Ferns will be aiming to retain their title and build towards next year's Olympics in Tokyo after becoming the first team to qualify for that event.
Fiji finished top of the 2018/19 World Series standings after winning five events and are aiming for their first triumph in Dubai since 2015.
Their squad includes Vilimoni Botitu, who lit up last year's World Series and finished top of the impact player standings.
All eyes will be on the USA as well to see if they can continue the impressive progress which saw them finish second in last season's overall standings.
Led by 52 tries from speedy winger Carlin Isles, the Eagles enjoyed their best campaign to date and had three other players named in the 2018/19 dream team.
England are still without captain Tom Mitchell as he continues his recovery from injury, one of a number of players in the squad who were ruled out towards the end of the 2018/19 campaign.
Head coach Simon Amor hailed his backroom staff for getting the team back to near-full strength ahead of the first men's World Series event of the season, but tempered expectations.
"We'll have some great players out there," Amor said. "However, with the lack of seven-v-seven training we've been able to do throughout pre-season due to the number of players coming back from injury, it's unlikely we'll be at our best."
England's men open their tournament against Spain in Pool D on Thursday, with Kenya and South Africa being drawn in their group as well.
For England's women, this is the second event of the year following the October tournament in Glendale, Arizona, where they finished ninth. Charlie Hayter's charges have been drawn in Pool C with France, New Zealand and Japan.
Ireland and Scotland are both in Pool B for a tournament which marks the Irish men's debut as a core team in the World Series.
They face the challenges of the USA and Australia in the group too, with Irish captain Billy Dardis excited for his side's debut.
"It's going to be a big challenge this weekend," Dardis said. "We've got three hard teams coming up in USA, Australia and Scotland so it will be hard going, but we're really excited for the whole challenge."
Meanwhile, Ireland's women are aiming to build on their eighth-place finish in Glendale in October. They take on Spain, Australia and Fiji in Pool B.
For Scotland, Robbie Fergusson skippers the team after being co-captain last season and will be leading a side with two debutants in Scott Bickerstaff and Femi Sofolarin.
Wales, meanwhile, embark on a new era under the stewardship of head coach Darren Edwards.
He takes charge of a team with an average age of just 22 and Wales' young guns will be testing themselves against New Zealand, Canada and Samoa in Pool C.
All three days of the men's and women's tournaments at this year's Dubai Sevens are being broadcast live on Sky Sports Arena.
The action gets under way with the first pool matches on Thursday, December 5 at 10.30am, with the group stages concluding on a bumper day of action on Friday, December 6, starting at 4.50am and resuming at 1pm.
The knockout stages start on Saturday, December 7, with live coverage commencing at 4.50am, 9.25am and 1.30pm.
