The Sevens weekend in Wellington is one of the biggest events on the sporting calendar as fans from around New Zealand descend on Westpac Stadium dressed in costumes ranging from naughty nurses to drag queens and Borat.

Sure, many come to party rather than to watch the rugby, but when it gets down to the finals, all eyes will be on the 14 men on the field.

Coach Gordon Tietjens and his New Zealand Sevens team have had the best possible start to the 2007-8 World Series, beating arch-rivals Fiji in the final in both Dubai and South Africa.  Their victory in the South African leg at George was a convincing one, 34-7, but that was two months ago and the Fijians will be hungry for revenge.

'New Zealand's victory in the South African leg of the World Series, was a convincing one, 34-7, but it was two months ago and the Fijians will be hungry for revenge'

Until recently Wellington was not a happy hunting ground for the home side, frequently falling to Fiji, but they have had more success in recent years. Last year's tournament was won by Samoa, their first-ever victory in a World Series leg, when they beat New Zealand in the semi-final and Fiji in the final. 

While the favourites for this tournament are the traditional powers New Zealand and Fiji, South Africa and Argentina have shown some promise this year and teams like England and Samoa are capable of causing upsets. Traditional crowd favourites Kenya have performed well in this year's series and, given the recent political unrest in their country, will be looking to give the fans back home something the cheer about, although sitting fifth equal in the World Series standings is already pretty good.

Police have already said they will be clamping down on alcohol-fuelled bad behaviour at this year's tournament, as well as costumes deemed too revealing, although traditionally the huge crowds are very well behaved.