Guyana and the Philippines Debut at 7s Hotspot

The IRB just released the pools for the Hong Kong Sevens including a host of Tier 3 nations and two debutants at the series' most famous leg.

A torrid Pool A features Las Vegas champions Samoa, England, Argentina and crowd-pleasers Kenya.

Pool B shapes up as this tournament's "Pool of Death" with series leaders New Zealand, South Africa, Wales and recent hosts, the United States. 

The composition of Pool C doesn't lack quality either, the Fijians in hot pursuit of Gordon Tietjens' men, followed by the always dangerous Australians, the ever-improving French and Scotland.

Tonga, Uruguay, recently-crowned Asian 7s champions Hong Kong and China make up Pool D.

The outstanding Nathan Hirayama's Canada head Pool E with Spain, Zimbabwe and the Phillipines.

In Pool F, Portugal, Russia, Japan and Guyana round out the last and probably weakest pool of the tournament.

Two teams that will inevitably win the crowd over no matter how they perform will be Hong Kong newcomers Guyana and the Philippines.

Guyana (not to be mistaken with French Guiana) is an English-speaking former British colony on the hump of South America, who appeared at the Las Vegas 7s in 2010. As the footage below will attest, -despite its choppy editing- the Guyanese like to play a physical defence and possess plenty of pace out wide, but were unfortunately denied any honours through a lack of basic finishing skills, pushing the French to a 5-all draw.

The Phillipines, too, have been making large strides in the abridged version of the game. The Volcanoes, as they are known, caused a massive upset, defying their number 7 tournament ranking and finishing second in last year's Borneo 7s just behind Japan.

Of course, no one expects either team to make the Cup Final, but they stand a chance at beating other, more experienced Tier 3 nations appearing at the tournament and will look to collect an even bigger scalp if any of the teams let their guard down for too long.

Whilst the newcomers' competitiveness may be in doubt, no one can deny that both the Guyanese and the Filipinos will grow from the experience of playing on the 7s game's biggest stage. What is in no doubt at all is that the rugby world will be a better place for their appearance.