West Island are the defending champions, but will face a stiff test from Sha Tin College. The two teams were closely matched in the inter-school, 15-a-side rugby competition this season, won by West Island.

'It's a prestigious competition for schools as it's been going on for so long,' said Jung Ho, former chairman of the Schools Rugby Union.

'But sevens rugby is a totally different kettle of fish. Sha Tin have five boys in the under-19 national team, and I think that strength will be more telling in Sevens.'

AIS will bring a new element to the highly regarded event, he added.

'I know Australian International School are keen to develop their rugby, and they have been playing the touch-and-tag version for quite a while. They have the skills, so we'll see how they do in the full-tackle version of the game,' said Ho.

Sadly, Chinese schools will not take part in the tournament this year. 'We were unable to get the commitment from players to form a combined Chinese Schools team this time,' said Brandon Huang, of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union, which co-organises the tournament.

Matches are 14 minutes long, with a 60-second half-time break. The eight schools have been divided into two pools, with the top three teams in each group qualifying for the Bowl, Plate or Cup final, based on the final standings.

Pool A features South Island School, King George V School, Chinese International School and Delia School of Canada.

Joining Sha Tin and West Island in Pool B are Island School and AIS. Matches start at 8.30am.

Meanwhile, a 16-man SAR squad, including university students Rowan Varty, Mark Wright, Jeff Wong, Ho Tsz-chun and Kenzo Pannell, has been named for the 2006 Hong Kong Rugby Sevens.

The group will travel to Beijing this weekend to play China as part of their preparations for the Sevens tournament from March 31 to April 2 at the Hong Kong Stadium.