Eighteen junior rugby teams from as far north as Auckland will converge on Queenstown this weekend for the fourth annual New Zealand Junior Rugby Festival.
Event organiser Tyrone Campbell said 11 of the teams were from the North Island, including Papakura, Rotorua and Ponsonby.
Other teams were coming from Heriot-Tapanui, Invercargill, and Wakatipu.
Mr Campbell said the event clashed with the Central South Island junior rugby tournament in Cromwell this weekend, which had an effect on the number of southern South Island teams entered.
However, support from North Island teams indicated how popular the event was becoming.
''They just love Queenstown. It's just an awesome destination and those rugby fields ... are some of the most scenic in the world.''
After seeding games today, each age group would be split into two divisions for the finals, which would be played from noon tomorrow ahead of ''North v South'' games in the U12 and U13 grades at 3.40pm.
Mr Campbell said the focus of the tournament was about participation.
''It's giving 95% of kids who don't make rep teams the opportunity to play in a big tournament in awesome locations.''
Games start today at the Queenstown Events Centre at 9.30am.
