The NZI Sevens website tells me that the competition kicks off in 2 days and 23 hours. That guarantees that the next 5 days in the capital will be 25-35 degrees without a cloud in the sky. This will be the third straight year I've boycotted the live event and watched at home. Well, when I say boycott I mean 'this'll be my fourth year as a student, and the third I can't afford to go'. Since I actually watch and enjoy the IRB series, I figured it'd be a help to profile the teams for those who're watching - either at the Caketin or at home.

The Structure

First you'll need to understand the way the NZI Sevens work. There are 16 teams, spread across four pools [so four in each pool]. There are four trophies on offer - the Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield. The 8 teams who finish third and fourth in their pool will contest the Bowl. The four teams which lose their first match in the Bowl tournament will drop down to contest the Shield, with the two winning teams in the first game going on to the Shield final, while the four teams which remained in the Bowl do the same. This process is identical for the Cup - the top two teams in each pool move on, those which lose their Cup game drop down to contest the Plate.

Pool A

Pool A consists of New Zealand, South Africa, Wales and Niue. New Zealand have opened the season with wins in both Dubai and George, while defending IRB Sevens winners South Africa have not made a Cup semi or final to date - losing 21-17 to eventual finalists Fiji. Keep an eye out for Mzwandile Stick, who slotted a massive dropkick from the sideline to tie their match with Kenya in George. Wales are only 2 points behind South Africa, as they have won the Bowl in both competitions, while SA has lost the Plate final in both tournaments. This will be the first time in the current tournament that Niue have fielded a team.

Keep an eye out for;

It'll be hard to miss a single NZ player, but Kurt Baker [he'll have the raggedy looking mullet, which is all the other teams ever see of him as they chase him down the wing], Ben Souness and Sherwin Stowers have been exceptional to date, while DJ Forbes has looked like he's enjoying himself once again. Forbes has been the most physical player on the tour this season, as that picture shows... and let's not forget the aforementioned Mzwandile Stick of South Africa.

Prediction: The Cup winner will come from this group. Either NZ or SA.

Pool B Pool B has Fiji, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Scotland. If I may be so bold, I'm going to refer to this group as the 'also rans' as none of the teams have shown sufficient ability so far this season to make them Cup contenders. Fiji made the final in George, but only after being pushed by Argentina and South Africa. In that match against NZ they looked extremely tired, possibly due to their focus on muscle and brute force. Australia were out of their depth in George, getting a thorough hiding from England in the Plate semifinal [though they won it in Dubai], while Scotland are yet to make a semi this year. The Scottish team have won won game - against Tunisia - and drawn against Zimbabwe, but haven't even looked close against anyone else. Like Niue, PNG have not fielded a team yet.

Keep an eye out for; Bernard and Shaun Foley from Australia - they're not the best players in the world, but they're committed and work well with each other. Clinton Sills is their best attacking weapon, and he should be good for 3 or 4 tries in Wellington. But in terms of talent in Pool B, it's impossible to look past William Ryder. He is simply a meast and the whole package - speed, finesse and strength in one tight-fitting Fijian shirt. He's an intense player and gives everything to his team - and definitely plays 'til the whistle blows. Here he is telling Stick how much he enjoyed his mother's baking. He's leading the points scoring so far this season and probably my favourite - either he or Stowers, who is leading try scorer.

Prediction; Unfortunately, this group has a rough ride. The team which tops it [Should be Fiji] will face the 2nd side in Pool A - so either NZ or SA. If Fiji can get over that hurdle, they'll be a shoe in for the final. Their best chance of winning the Cup will be to play SA in the final. Australia, Scotland and PNG will be contesting the Bowl or Shield, realistically, since the 2nd place Pool B team plays the 1st placed Pool A side.

Pool C Tonga, Kenya, England, USA. That's the way I'm picking this pool too. Tonga's first tournament of the 2009 series, but they're always a tough side. Kenya, if they progress as I've picked them, will be the NZ media darlings. Traditionally, the team which 'punches above its weight' is picked up by the national media and the commentators forever repeat that they are 'fan favourites' - usually this is the US. Kenya's development over the past few years has been excellent. While they've retained the slender frames that allow them to run so effectively, they've also learnt how to handle contact. Broken tackles are not as abundant now as they once were. My favourite part of watching Kenya though is the intelligence they utilise on field. They don't simply resort to set plays, they create them on the fly. It's hard to describe until you see it. England have been as disappointing as Australia so far, but if they can beat Tonga or Kenya, they'll get a big confidence boost. One of these three teams will be my dark horse to make the final, and one will definitely take out the Bowl. The US get an honorable mention, and will be Bowl contenders.

Keep an eye out for; If you hadn't guessed already, Kenya are my favourite team aside from New Zealand. Collins Injera [L] and Humphrey Kayange [R] are superb players and seeing them lope down the field, looking like they're not even trying, is awesome. Injera is only 3 tries behind Stowers and second on the try table this year. From England, who have the most horrid uniform on the circuit - honestly, the back makes no sense - veteran Ben Gollings and 20-year-old Dan Caprice are their best hopes.

Prediction; I've laid it out. If Tonga stumble, it'll come down to Kenya v England. Whoever wins that will be the best hope. If demoted, Kenya should lick their lips at the prospect of taking home the Plate, but England are not Cup challengers.

Pool D Here it is: The cliched 'pool of death'. Except in this case, it's four mediocre teams. Argentina and Samoa can compete in the Cup ranks, but none of these sides even look like winning it - but they are all around each others level, and it'll create excellent pool matches, that's for sure.

Keep an eye out for; Mikaele Pesamino of Samoa - He was basically born to hit you hard, steal the ball and run it back for a try. He is hugggge and has been around for years. If you haven't heard of him, it's a safe bet you're not going to the Sevens to watch rugby - rather to perve and get pissed.

Prediction Samoa and Argentina will top the group. Samoa can make the semis, but Argentina will play for the Plate. France will contest the Bowl and Canada the Shield.

After the slight (and hardly noticeable) mistake in the last podcast this time (ah, the perils of a two-podcast household) we've got it all correct (except the result of the game which we got wrong).

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Now all we have to do is wait for the PrettyPrettyPretty post where they talk about rugby.

It's been a looooooong time, but we're back! 

Well, not all of us, but enough of us to record a semi-coherent fairly-audible podcast. And in the great tradition of the Dropkicks, I've uploaded it after the game we tried to predict.

Tomorrow morning at around 11.30 I've got my radio debut on bfm's Morning Glory show. Hopefully I won't screw it up like my last radio interview.

Tune in and remember to email them and tell how awesome I was.

For those of you who listen to the Dropkicks podcast you may be wondering where the heck we've been?

Well we've been having a number of troubles with our uploads that we are trying to remedy. But we have been recording (don't worry we still love ya!) and we'll put up the old (and now historic) ones.

Well the results are in: The Dropkicks should­ be the new coaches of the All Blacks.

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Coming in a "close" second was Graham Henry, followed by the man that apparently the whole nation wants to see as coach Robbie Deans.

Interestingly only four of you voted for yourselves, how unselfish. Meantime (nearly) all the Dropkicks voted for themselves. But in a clear show of sanity, nobody (zero, zip, nada) voted for Chris Rattue.

We'll be forwarding these results to the NZRU and hopefully will be the new coaches by the end of the month.

btw: we'll leave the poll open for a while longer even though it's clear who you want.

Robbie Deans - tipped to be the next All Black's coach should incumbent Graham get relieved of (or not re-apply for) the position after NZRFU's post-Cup review - has revealed his plans for what he would change about the All Blacks in an effort to win the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Looking over the last couple of campaigns, you can see that we've taken on board the various deficiencies in our game, and improved them to be on a par with any other country. In 1999, our pack was shown up a bit, so we've worked on that, and have now got forwards that are at least as good, if not better than anything the Boks or English can throw at us. In 2003, it was depth - a couple of injuries, and suddenly the crooks could smell blood and we paid the price. Lineout problems? Sorted. We've always had incredible backs: the Pacific Islands can keep supplying the speed on the wings, and the Christchurch Boys' High School 1st-Fives production line will churn out a Mehrtens, Carter or Brett every three or four years, so no worries there.

But, as many people have realised over the course of this World Cup, we don't have a top-class drop-kicker in the team. To win a Cup, you can have the best forward pack, the best backs, the best fitness, incredible squad depth, but if you can't put down a ruck centre field, 20 metres out and have someone take the easy three, then you'll never get your mitts on the silverware.

To that end, if I get given the reins, I'll be instituting a compulsory half-hour of drop-kick training for all the players in the team at every session. Forwards, backs, it doesn't matter - I want any of them to be able to put over a droppie from anywhere inside the 10-metre line. Hell, if Matt Dunning can knock one over, so can Tony Woodcock.

And we're going to put it into practice. No more of this free-flowing Tri-Nations and Super 14 malarkey. I'll have the NZRFU send out a directive that scoring from drop-kicks will be the preferred points-accruing option. If you've got an attacking scrum, ruck or maul anywhere inside the opposition's 22, I don't want to see any of this pick-and-go or pushover craziness, or flinging it wide and running the risk of some evil wizard intercepting it and trotting away down the other end, I want someone twenty metres behind the pack, directly between the sticks, banging over drop-goal after drop-goal. It may be boring. The public may not like it and turn off the telly in droves. But the NZ public will be thanking me in four years time when we get our hands back on the old Willy Webb.

Deans also had this to say on the backline.

Oh, and I'll be playing an actual centre at centre. Whoever happens to be the Canterbury centre at the time. They'll do.

By the way just in case you hadn’t caught up on all the new coolness here at the Dropkicks, here’s a quick run down.

Not only are we bringing you the best in opinionated rugby commentary via the podcast (subscription feed here) and this blog but we have also created a Facebook group. How very social of us. So join up and let’s make the world a smaller place.

We also now have forums, so if you disagree with any of the stuff we (Dom) say during our podcast ramblings feel free to make it known.

Congrats to fellow Dropkick Hadyn Green, who has placed third in the 1st Sportingo Challenge.

The Challenge was to write a piece on one of these two topics: Compare your most and least favorite games or What unites and/or divides sports fans? and Hadyn whipped up a piece entitled "Sport - Why Do We Follow It?"

Nice work Hadyn, and, indeed, one day you might get paid to do this sort of thing.