Both the Otago men's and women's sides have tough draws for next month's national sevens tournament in Rotorua.
The Otago men won the southern regional sevens qualifying tournament in Timaru last month but that does not seem to have held much sway when the draw was announced over the weekend.
Otago will face Wellington, Hawkes Bay and Taranaki in its pool in the men section while the women's side, which finished second in the Timaru tournament, will take on Counties-Manukau, North Harbour, Waikato and Wellington.
The tournament will be played on January 16-17.
The women will start early with its first game against Counties-Manukau at 9.45am on January 16. It then follows with games against Wellington, less than two hours later, North Harbour, and finishes with a match against Waikato.
The men will play Wellington at 11.25am on the first day followed by matches against Taranaki and the final pool game against Hawkes Bay to finish at 5.55pm.
The top finishing teams in each of the women's pools go straight through to the semifinal while the second and third placegetters will play in a quarterfinal.
The top two in each men's pool goes through to the quarterfinals on Sunday.
Waikato won the men's title last season and Auckland claimed the women's title.
