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The pools and schedules have been announced for the penultimate leg of the 2009/10 IRB Sevens World Series. the London Sevens.

Twickenham stadium will once again host 16 teams for the May 22-23rd event with the current Series firmly in balance with just six points separating leaders Samoa from New Zealand.

The Samoans have won the last three legs and are top seeds for a tournament they last won in 2008.

Stephen Betham’s side kick-off the event against Al Caravelli’s in-form USA Eagles, a repeat of the final from Adelaide. Italy and Argentina join the pair in Pool A. 

Hosts England will once again meet foes Australia, with the Aussies looking for Pool D revenge following their exit in the Hong Kong quarter-finals to Ben Ryan’s squad. Scotland, who reached the semi-finals last year, and the always improving Russians make up Pool D.

South Africa will yet again have to meet Fiji in Pool C, with Paul Treu’s Boks losing out four times this season to the islanders in Cup quarter-finals. Morgan Williams’ young Canadians and France also feature in Pool C.

New Zealand, winners in Dubai and George in December, traditionally finish strongly in Europe and are joined in Pool B by Kenya, Wales and Portugal.

With valuable points up for grabs before the winner of the Series is crowned in Murrayfield a week later, all 16 teams will be out to add to their tally.

IRB Sevens Manager Beth Coalter said, "The penultimate tournament in this year's Series in London will be a real cracker. The extremely competitive and exciting games that we have seen over the last six tournaments have resulted in there being no clear winner with, Samoa and New Zealand separated by just six points at the top of the standings.

"Then there are the rest who are all looking to get as high up the points table as they can before the final tournament in Scotland, including Australia and USA who have shown what consistency in their teams can achieve. Twickenham is set to see some very entertaining rugby over the entire weekend."

More than 30,000 tickets have already been sold for the event with fans being encouraged to dress as their favourite superheroes to break the Guinness World Record for the 'Largest Gathering of Superheroes' on the finals day.

Ryan said, "We can't wait to return to Twickenham and get our title defence underway. We are up against tough opposition in the pool stages, with Russia, Scotland and Australia, but coming to London for our home event is always special and I'm hoping this will give the players an extra boost as they play in front of their family and friends.

London Sevens Pools:

Pool A - Samoa, USA, Argentina, Italy

Pool B - New Zealand, Kenya, Wales, Portugal

Pool C - Fiji, South Africa, Canada, France

Pool D - England, Australia, Scotland, Russia