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Four of the six best Sevens teams in the world, including the chart topping Springboks will participate in the inaugural Namibia Sevens tournament in Windhoek to be played on September 25 and 26.

Current IRB Sevens World Series champions South Africa will be joined by Samoa, Fiji and Argentina as well as, in all likelihood, fellow IRB Series competitors Tunisia and Portugal.

Five more teams from the continent will give the tournament, to the played at the Heine Geingob Stadium, an African flavour.

Uganda, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and hosts Namibia are in the line-up for the Namibia Sevens which has received official backing from the IRB, with Spain set to complete the 12 sides participating, although official confirmation is yet to be received.

World Sevens series winning coach Paul Treu attended the launch of the event in Windhoek on Tuesday and expressed his gratitude to the Namibian Rugby Union for the invitation to participate.

"We have just assembled our squad back home to start preparing for the defence of our IRB crown and this tournament will give us an early indication on the effort needed. I am sure the likes of Fiji, Samoa and Argentina feel the same way," said Treu.

The vice-president of the Namibian Rugby Union, Sarel Losper, thanked the IRB for the opportunity to host an international event of this kind.

"We would also like to thank the IRB for sanctioning the event as it enabled us to invite top sides."

Smaller Sevens nations

But it is not just the main IRB Series sides who will be using this tournament to learn more about their own Sevens side, as teams like Uganda will appreciate competing against some of the best in the world – even if their preparation may be a little different.

“Namibia (Rugby Union) have invited us for a two-day Sevens contest,” said Ramsey Olinga, the Uganda Rugby Union (URU) development manager.

“The hosts will cater for 10 players in terms of travel and accommodation but we must buy the visas and pay allowances.”

Despite the Uganda Cup semi-finals this weekend, and the final colliding with the Namibia Sevens, Olinga is hopeful that clubs stick to the rules and let their players train with Uganda Sevens coach Ronnie Lutakome starting this evening.

“My target has always been to build a consistent side that can qualify for the 2013 World Cup. Arthur (Mukama), Ddumba, Matsiko and John Paul (Ssemakula) are the only new faces in training,” siad Lutakome.

Tournament promoter, Willem Strauss, said this will be a great vehicle for the developing nations to improve their standards.

"It also gives the professional teams the ideal opportunity to start preparing for the World Series. The schools component will ensure the sustainability of the event," Straus said.

Eight provincial sides from South Africa and Namibia will also participate and a schools tournament with 20 schools from South Africa and Namibia will run concurrently, making this one of the biggest Sevens tournaments in Africa.