The 2026 Nationwide Rugby 7s Collection will start with lots at stake after the Stone Metropolis 7s swimming pools had been unveiled forward of the season opener in Jinja.

This yr’s competitors introduces a brand new format that’s anticipated to make each match depend.

The lads’s discipline has been decreased to 12 core groups break up into three swimming pools of 4, whereas the ladies’s competitors has expanded to eight groups in two teams.

The sequence will likely be performed over six rounds throughout the nation earlier than concluding with the Kakaba Coronation 7s at Muteesa II Stadium in Wakulukuku.

The lads’s draw has already produced a standout group. Pool B pits final season’s runners-up Heathens towards a resurgent KOBs, Mongers and Mbale Elephants in what guarantees to be the hardest battle of the opening spherical.

Hosts Walukuba Barbarians headline Pool A alongside Rhinos, Hippos and Victoria Sharks, whereas Pool C options Buffaloes, Black Pirates, Eagles and Rams.

The ladies’s competitors is equally aggressive. Defending champions Thunderbirds have been drawn with Walukuba Titans, final season’s shock bundle, in addition to an bettering Nile Rapids and Mbale Eagles in Pool A.

Pool B consists of Avengers, Black Pearls, She Wolves and Ewes.

The brand new format raises the stakes within the group stage. The highest two groups from every males’s pool will qualify routinely for the quarterfinals, with the remaining two locations going to the most effective third-placed groups based mostly on factors earned throughout the pool stage.

If groups end degree on factors, rankings will likely be determined by factors distinction, adopted by attempt distinction, complete factors scored, complete tries scored and, if needed, a coin toss.

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