A strong Kaikorai team will be hard to beat at the inaugural Maheno Sevens, at the Maheno Domain today.
Its team includes Otago representative Jayden Spence and last year's New Zealand secondary schools player, Gavin Stark.
Other Otago representatives playing in the tournament include Peter Breen (Alhambra-Union) and Michel Collins (Taieri).
Nine teams have entered the tournament - four from Dunedin and five from North Otago.
''It is a fundraiser for the club and we plan to make it an annual tournament,'' Maheno president James Symes said.
''We want to turn it into a festival day and have a carnival atmosphere.''
The Maheno club has had expressions of interest from Canterbury clubs who would have been keen to take part if they had known about the tournament earlier.
''But our notices were put out too late to clubs in Canterbury,'' Symes said.
The tournament starts with pool play at 10am at the Maheno Domain and the final is expected to start at 4.30pm.
There will be seven-minute spells in pool play and 10 minutes for the final.
The competing teams are:Pool A: Maheno, Kurow, Green Island, Kaikorai, Valley.
Pool B: Athletic, Old Boys, Alhambra-Union, Taieri.
