''We've got a couple more quick men this year and if everything comes together we should win it,'' said Morris, who was in the Marauders team which went down 25-16 to Warblers in last year's final.

Warblers, winners for the past two years, also won all their matches yesterday but while Marauders kept a clean sheet the Bill Calcraft-led international side, sporting old favourites Mark Ella and Gareth Davies, had 25 points scored against them in theirwins over Hongkong Football Club, Sydney Schooners and Acorn.

The Warblers do seem to have the edge in the forwards, though, and Morris admitted that the ball would have to be won for Marauders to make use of their speedsters if the two teams meet in the final.

Aliens, a side of top level players now based in Japan, looked good yesterday and could stretch Warblers in their expected semi-final showdown.

The closest of the quarter-finals should be between the Scottish Survivors and Hongkong.

The Survivors are full of talent but, as Finlay Calder kindly put it, are not ''in the first flush of youth'' and could be troubled by Hongkong, winners of the Cup in 1990.

Hongkong had wins over European Exiles (24-5) and Vajiravudh (31-0) although they did have their hiccups in both games.

''There were a lot of dropped passes early on and we will not get away with that against the Scottish Surivors,'' said coach Allan Payne. ''If we can get into gear straight away against Scotland we could give them a good game. If we start the way we did today we will be struggling.'' Valley's Ashley Billington, who missed out on a place in Hongkong's Sevens squad, and winger Bruce Harris - a recent Hongkong arrival - scored the lion's share of the points.

Valley's Stuart Grant could feature in the quarter-final - for the Scottish Survivors. Two places in the Scottish side were put up for auction in Hongkong and Grant and Willie Longdale, also from Valley, were the top bidders.

Grant scored a try in the Survivors' 43-0 win over Wombats and could keep his place in the side which includes such notables as Iain Milne, Jim Renwick, Dougie Wyllie and Roger Baird.

''It was excellent fun and I managed to score a try which made the day,'' said Grant, before adding with a smile: ''I taught those old guys a thing or two.

''If I play against Hongkong there should be some interesting exchanges - I've a few friends in the team.'' The all-Asian Hongkong Dragons confirmed their improvement with a good 29-5 win over Dubai Exiles, a narrow 17-13 defeat by the Hongkong Contemptibles and a fighting display against group winners Al-Khobar Eagles, who won the match 29-5.

The Dragons were 13-10 ahead against Contemptibles through tries by Development Player of the Year Chris Chung Pak-Kee and Alex Fong but were floored by a score in the last minute from the Hongkong old-timers who recruited a few 'cadets' to give them a bit of pace.

''We did not really put our tactics into practice otherwise we would have scored a few more tries,'' said Dragons Alan Ng Wai-yip. ''We played well against the Exiles but did not really pass the ball down the line in the match with the Contemptibles.'' In the Plate first round the Hongkong Dragons will take on the highly-rated Old Blues Rugby Club from the United States who were edged out of a place in the Cup competition by a sharp-looking Sheffield University Old Boys side.

Contemptibles and Cadets take on the British Club Bangkok in the Plate's first-round while Hongkong Football Club, who had just one win yesterday, play Caboolture Snakes.

The Hongkong Forces side also made it to the Plate and will play Roma this morning.