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Nick Jordan in Singapore

Ablitt Cup holders the South African Vipers today begin their quest for a fourth straight title on the first day of the 63rd Singapore Cricket Club Rugby 7s.

Coach Paul Treu said they were delighted to be back at the Padang in the heart of Singapore.

"The SCC 7s is the ideal place in which to finalise our preparations for the HSBC World Sevens Series, which kicks off in Dubai in December," he said. "On Friday and Saturday we will be looking to try out some new combinations and give all our players plenty of exposure. We’ll treat each of our opponents with respect but the real challenges will come on Sunday in the knock-out stages.”

The Vipers play Sri Lanka on day one while their other pool opponents in Pool F are Impala from Kenya and East Arnhem Rugby (Gove) from the Northern Territory of Australia.

Davetalevu, who were runners-up to the Vipers the last two years, have a challenging pool E against the Hong Kong Dragons, who were the winners of the international section of the Borneo Sevens last weekend, Palmyra and the British Army Flying Kukris. The Fijian club won the club section of the Borneo tournament (over the Borneo Eagles) and have truiumphed at the SCC four times, the most recent in 2005.

The Eagles lock horns this week with the Penguins (UK), Cottesloe (Western Australia) and Almaty (a late entry from Kazakhstan) in Pool A while 2006 champions Ponsonby (Auckland, New Zealand) and the NS Wanderers from Malaysia provide one of the Pool play highlights when they clash in Pool B, along with the Casuarina Cougars and the Singapore Barbarians.

Home club the SCC tackle first-time visitors Horowhenua-Kapiti (New Zealand), COBRA (Malaysia) and the Southern Lions (Australia) in Pool C while Japan Samurais will be expected to progress as winners of Pool D, where they face Sunnybank, NT Mosquitoes and Tamariva (all Australia).

Peter Hutton, Chairman, SCC Rugby 7s Organising Committee, said: “The SCC 7s is a world-class event which attracts some of the best teams from across the globe. The South African Vipers are the pre-tournament favourites but any one of HSBC Penguins, Davetalevu, NS Wanderers, Borneo Eagles, Japan Samurai, or five or six others, could upset them. This is undoubtedly the most competitive SCC 7s yet and some of the games in the pool stages will even be of higher quality than the finals of just a few years ago.”

The Ablitt Cup is named after Bernard E. Ablitt who was the President of the SCC in 1938-39 and was first contested in 1948. Plate, Bowl and Jug competitions are also contested in the men's section of the tournament on Sunday.

The national Singapore women’s team will face off against Malaysia and Indonesia, in the opening rounds of the first ever SCC Women’s International 7s competition while the National School and Colleges Rugby 7s championship will be played at the event for the first time as well, as part of the extensive youth development programme.

The Singapore women play Indonesia and Malaysia as part of the final preparations for their first performance at the Asian Games later this month with pre-tournament favourites Japan playing India and Hong Kong in pool matches today. Semi-finals and the final take place on Saturday.

Eighteen schools compete across the U-16 and U-19 competitions, with Anglo Chinese School (Independent), Singapore American School, United World College and Raffles Institute favourites to lift the titles. Minnows Pioneer Junior College, Pioneer Secondary School and Millennia Institute will hope to cause an upset on the biggest stage of schools rugby in Singapore. Games will be played on Friday and Saturday with finals staged on Sunday.

In the past two days, more than 500 children have received professional coaching from competing teams including the HSBC Penguins, whose coaching clinic gathered approximately 200 children at the Padang.

New Zealand Sevens star Nafi Tuitavake, Malaysia coach Dean Herewini, Scotland development officer Neil Graham and former USA 7s coach John McKittrick (all with the HSBC Penguins), and Paul Treu and the SA Vipers team provided world-class coaching to local youngsters.

Darren Friedlander, Head of Marketing, HSBC Singapore said, “We are delighted to be involved with the SCC 7’s through the HSBC coaching clinic. The HSBC Penguins are dedicated to spreading the love for rugby across the globe and whilst here in Singapore, they will have a real impact on the youth development programme, coaching hundreds of children and ensuring that the HSBC rugby legacy remains wherever they travel.”

Thunderstorms are forecast for the tournament for the next three days although temperatures will be a warm 32 degrees.

Nick Jordan is in Singapore, in association with the Singapore Cricket Club, Tourism Fiji and Air Pacific.