Same state, different city. This will be the first time San Diego will be hosting an IRB Sevens tournament since the venue was moved from their neighbours, Los Angeles.

For the last three years the USA Sevens - the fourth event in the ever-growing IRB Sevens World Series - was held at the impressive Home Depot Center.

The facilities were state-of-the-art and the rugby was as good as promised but the buzz and crowd failed to show up. 15,000 on the final day's play was good but America knows it can do better.

The city of San Diego knows it has big boots to fill, and after a sell-out Sevens extravaganza at Westpac Stadium in Wellington a week ago - expectations will be high.

Even if the crowds don't turn up in their thousands to support the ever growing international sport, the teams will still put on a show for the few that have not witnessed a live game of Sevens Rugby.

Former USA Eagles captain Dan Lyle is heading up operations at this year's tournament and he's confident that Sevens is precisely the way to take rugby to the masses stateside.

"I don't want to go into the whole spiel of 44 matches in two days, 16 nations etc but that's exactly what it is," Lyle said.

"It's never boring.

"It's the right way to introduce rugby to America and we're really excited about taking the best of what's been successful at the other events around the world and making a Rugby Sevens carnival in San Diego, getting everyone involved, and then trying and use that to serve as a catalyst for growing our athlete pool."

It seems the former Eagles number eight has hammered the nail right in the supporters' coffin. If the San Diego crowd want to see slam dunks, home runs or goals on ice - stay away.

However, if America wants to be treated to spectacular tries, hard hits, super skills and a lesson in how the game of Sevens is played - see you there!

So how will the teams match up against each other in the tricky pool stages?

All the pools look set to be entertaining ones with a few upsets on the cards along the way no doubt. In fact, the person responsible for drawing the teams in their respective pools deserves a big handshake, as it promises to be a cracker of a first day in San Diego.

Pool A once again contains Fiji who will be wanting to make amends for their surprise loss to Samoa in the exhilarating Wellington Final last weekend. In fact, the rest of the group should prepare themselves for a Fijian onslaught as the islanders look to take out their frustration on their Wellington defeat. Argentina's form in the last three rounds of Sevens action has plenty of room for improvement. However, the Pumas always seem to lift their game in the States, winning the Plate Final last year in Los Angeles.

Scotland still seem to blow hot and cold, putting up a brave fight in the pool stages against England and Samoa - only to bow out in the Shield Final to Portugal. The will be a perfect opportunity for the Scots to have a crack at a Cup quarter-final berth. The West Indies shouldn't cause too much trouble, perhaps they should focus on their Cricket World Cup preparations instead!

Pool B looks to be a mouth-watering encounter between four sides that have all have a point to prove somewhere along the line. South Africa will be reeling from their semi-final defeat to Samoa in Wellington. Just two points separated the two sides at the final whistle and the Springboks will be hoping a few dubious decisions will go their way this time round. Wellington champions Samoa will be out to prove to everyone but themselves that their surprise win over Fiji in last weekend's final wasn't a fluke.

All eyes will be on the Men in Blue - will the pressure to perform be their downfall? A side under no pressure, but seem to pull out the wins is Portugal. The new kids on the IRB Sevens' block are fast earning themselves the respect they deserve. Tomaz Morais's troops will be up for another big performance after capturing the Shield title last weekend in New Zealand. Tonga will be wanting to cause more damage then none as they look to cause more upsets and perhaps reach a Cup quarter-final along the way.

Pool C is another group of Sevens rugby-playing nations that can attract a decent crowd. And with hosts USA in the mix, the Eagles will be hoping that the 'decent' crowd arrives to support them on their home turf. The hosts will be looking to give their supporters something to cheer about - whether they can achieve this is another story.

Wellington Cup quarter-finalists England and Kenya won't be doing the home team any favours and a tough game against the English and the Africans should be expected. However, the USA could bring out a Mexican Wave in the PETCO Park grandstands if the Australians fail to come to the party so to speak. The men in green and gold have yet to put their hands up as they do in the 15-man game, yet expect the unexpected.

Pool D looks set to be one-way traffic for New Zealand and will have little, if any, surprises coming out of it. The Kiwis will want to make up for their semi-final drubbing by Fiji in Wellington last week. No team likes to get beaten in their back yard, expect big things from the tournament leaders. France can put up a fight when they need to - they proved it against England in the Plate Final last weekend. Saying that, they also know how to push the self-destruct button in a matter of seconds, let's hope the Les Bleus can keep their finger off that button for an entire match.

Canada can and will make life difficult for a top seeded team if they get their game-plan right. The Canucks aren't a long way from home and should find a Canada flag or two in the crowd waving their team on. Chile have an arduous task of avoiding a barrage of defeats in this group.

The teams:

Pool A: Fiji, Argentina, Scotland, West Indies
Pool B: South Africa, Samoa, Portugal, Tonga
Pool C: England, Australia, Kenya, USA
Pool D: New Zealand, France, Canada, Chile

Fixtures/results:
(Kick-off is local time: GMT - 8)

Match 1: Pool C - England v Kenya, 10:00
Match 2: Pool C - Australia v USA, 10:22
Match 3: Pool A - Fiji v Scotland, 10:44
Match 4: Pool A - Argentina v West Indies, 11:06
Match 5: Pool B - South Africa v Portugal, 11:28
Match 6: Pool B - Samoa v Tonga, 11:50
Match 7: Pool D -New Zealand v Canada, 12:12
Match 8: Pool D - France v Chile, 12:34
Match 9: Pool C - England v USA, 13:06
Match 10: Pool C - Australia v Kenya, 13:28
Match 11: Pool A - Fiji v West Indies, 13:50
Match 12: Pool A - Argentina v Scotland, 14:12
Match 13: Pool B - South Africa v Tonga, 14:34
Match 14: Pool B - Samoa v Portugal, 14:56
Match 15: Pool D - New Zealand v Chile, 15:18
Match 16: Pool D - France v Canada, 15:40
Match 17: Pool C - Kenya v USA, 16:12
Match 18: Pool A - Scotland v West Indies, 16:34
Match 19: Pool B - Portugal v Tonga, 16:56
Match 20: Pool D - Canada v Chile, 17:18
Match 21: Pool C - England v Australia, 17:40
Match 22: Pool A - Fiji v Argentina, 18:02
Match 23: Pool B - South Africa v Samoa, 18:24
Match 24: Pool D - New Zealand v France, 18:46