'All teams are more versed in the game. It will be the most competitive ever'
High-flying New Zealand and England will be the top two seeds when the draw for next month's tournament takes place this evening in Central with International Rugby Board (IRB) chairman Dr Syd Millar in attendance.
The rampant Kiwis, who have won the last three tournaments in this season's IRB Sevens, will be billed as the outright favourites and as such will get top seeding for the March 18-20 tournament at the sold-out Hong Kong Stadium.
England, winners of the past three Hong Kong Sevens, will be the number two seeds. They will be drawn in separate halves of the draw and will only meet if they progress to the Cup final.
'It will be a case of 'lucky eight'. To win the World Cup, a team will have to play eight games, which is two more than what is needed to win the Hong Kong Sevens.
'There will be a total of 81 matches at the World Cup compared to 67 games normally. It will be more action,' said Allan Payne, Hong Kong Rugby Football Union executive director.
The 24 teams will be drawn into four pools of six. There will be eight seeded teams based on their performances at the last six tournaments in the IRB Sevens - that is the first four from the 2004-05 series (Dubai, George, Wellington and Los Angeles) and the last two from the 2003-04 series (Bordeaux and London).