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The Aussie Spirit booked themselves a place in the main draw of the Heineken Hottest Sevens in Darwin after recording three wins from as many starts on Saturday.

But the Digicell Samoa Barbarians are looming as the team favoured to grab a major slice of the $60,000 prize money on offer after an impressive first day where they looked pacy and expressive.

Micheal O' Connor's Aussie Spirit defeated Continental Jets from Guam 45-0, Fijian team Red Rock 17-0 and finished the hot and steamy day here in the tropical north with a 33-0 victory over the Global Fiji Samurai.

The Australians were seeded third for this tournament and national sevens team coach O'Connor is using it as a trial for the next leg of the IRB World Sevens series which kicks off in a fortnight's time in San Diego and also the looming sevens World Cup in Dubai in early April.

The Aussie Spirit will meet Ronan Impact in their quarter-final round on Sunday and on current form look assured of a semi-final berth.

The Aussies were workmanlike rather than flashy in their work on the field on Saturday but O'Connor was pleased with their attitude and workrate in defence.

"It was a great first day's work for a side that is pretty inexperienced at this level of Sevens Rugby," O'Connor said.

"Our focus today was on our defence and to come through our three games without having our lined crossed says something about the attitude we had out there."

They really put in in that area, but there are parts of our game where we could have been more polished, but the idea was to get through today without a defeat and that has come together for us.

"I was happy for a lot of the young guys in the squad like Michael Maguire and Mark Swanepoel. They got stuck in came up with some super plays."

Outstanding performers for the Aussie Spirit included former Australian Schools backrower and today's captain Will Brock and the elusive Willie Bishop.

Top seeds the South Sea Drifters also came through Saturday unscathed on day one with wins over the Austar Mosquitoes and Sydney clubs Gordon and Randwick.

Their captain and coach, the sevens legend Waisale Serevi had limited involvement in the first two wins, but played a major role in their victory over a Randwick coached by Glen Ella.

But by far the most impressive team on show on Saturday was the Digicel Samoa Barbarians. They showed power and pace at different times on Saturday and all the indications are that they will be able to crank it up a gear on Sunday.

"Yeah the Samoans from what I saw will be a contender for the title here. They have pace and physical edge that is important on the second day of these type of tournaments," O'Connor added.

Elsewhere in the tournament, O'Connor couldn't help but be impressed with the work of young Henry Vanderglas who came up from Canberra to play for local side the Austar Mosquitoes.

The Brumbies Academy player showed pace, anticipation and outstanding defence and is definitely now on the national sevens team coach's radar.

The tournament is the centrepiece of a festival of Rugby here in Darwin over the weekend.

Former Wallabies Chris Handy, John Lambie and Mark Ella starred at a sold out luncheon on Friday with Northern Territory's Chief Minister Paul Henderson enjoying every moment of a rollicking afternoon.

There is $60,000 in prize money on offer on Sunday and the hottest sevens tournament in the north is sured to get even more serious.