Update: 2:36PM THE United States will play host to the USA Sevens International Rugby Tournament and Fan Festival on Presidents Day this weekend
Las Vegas, Nevada is the fourth stop on the International Rugby Board's (IRB) Sevens World Series, which has already held tournaments in Dubai, South Africa and Wellington.
Last week Fiji clinched the 2010 NZI Sevens title, winning a stunning final of breathless intensity 19-14 against South Sea Island rivals Samoa.
Iliesa Tanivula's side was the outstanding outfit in the tournament, ending England's title defence at the semi-final stage and then going on to clinch a first Wellington crown since 2006.
In doing so, they cut New Zealand's lead in the 2009/10 IRB Sevens World Series to just four points ahead of next weekend's event in Las Vegas, USA. Samoa move up to third in the table, England lie in fourth and Australia's second successive Plate victory moves them up to fifth.
Play resumes this weekend in the United States.
National teams from 16 countries will compete in a round robin tournament consisting of 44 total matches over two days.
The tournament begins on Saturday February 13 at Sam Boyd Stadium with 24 pool matches to determine the table for the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals on Sunday
Countries participating in this years Sevens World Series are Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, England, Fiji, France, Guyana, Japan, Kenya, New Zealand, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, USA, and Wales.
Two Colorado ruggers, Lenard Peters from the Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Football Club and Mark Bokhoven of the Denver Barbarians Rugby (RSL) are in the lineup for Las Vegas.
Rugby Sevens is a sprinters game played in two seven-minute halves with a one-minute halftime. Played on a standard size rugby pitch, a rugby sevens side fields seven players (hence the name) rather than the usual 15 players found in rugby union.
The basic game of rugby sevens is similar to rugby union with modifications to allow for the limited number of players, however, with so few players on such a large field, rugby sevens is a faster paced game than its rugby union counterpart and is full of breakaways and high scores.
The USA Sevens Tournament is the largest annual rugby event in North America and is one of eight international venues for the IRB Sevens World Series. This is the seventh year the United States has hosted a stop on the tour.
THE pools and match schedule for the widely anticipated USA Sevens in Las Vegas on February 13-14 have been announced by the International Rugby Board.
Defending champions Argentina face a tough challenge after being drawn in the same Pool as 2009 runners up England and world champions Wales for the inaugural event in Las Vegas.
Argentina, who scored two second half tries to beat England 19-14 in San Diego last year and claim only their second IRB Sevens World Series title, will also face Japan in Pool D.
Pool A
New Zealand
Australia
France
Guyana
Pool B
Fiji
South Africa
USA
Canada
Pool C
Samoa
Kenya
Scotland
Chile
Pool D
England
Argentina
Wales
Japan
Series leaders New Zealand winners of the opening two legs in Dubai and George in December are the top seeds for the fourth leg of the 2009/10 Series and will face Australia, France and Guyana in Pool A.