Prince Edward Tigers are hoping to send a loud notice of their preparedness for the forthcoming rugby season when they visit Hellenic Academy for the inaugural Kershaw Sevens Cup Day and Night tournament today (Thursday).

The big sevens festival occupies the whole afternoon of today until the evening hours and will showcase eight powerful school teams that compete in the Super 12 fifteens league.

Besides PE and the hosts the other teams taking part in the Kershaw Sevens Cup are Kyle College, Eaglesvale, Gateway, St Johns, Prince Edward, Peterhouse and Christian Brothers College.

All the schools will field their first as well their Under-16 teams.

This is the first major tournament for top rugby –playing schools this year and will provide a glimpse into their their line-ups as well as their strengths for the 2017 season that begins once the second academic term opens in May.

St George’s College, located a few blocks from Hellenic Academy on Borrowdale Road, are the notable absentees but the red blazers have hinted that they will only get their pre-season preparations underway next week.

PE Tigers start as favourites having already switched into gear last month when they toured Windhoek for the Samsung Hennie de Waal tournament and engaged top Namibian schools winning three out of their four fixtures, while the Under-16 team also featured in four curtain-raising encounters.

It is also expected that Peterhouse will shine with the confidence they are exuding after a highly-successful trip to New Zealand late last year when they remarkably won all their four games against some traditional rugby rowers in the Oceania island nation.

Not much is known of the pedigree of hosts Hellenic, who were scheduled to pitch their pre-season camp in England, but they will obviously be no pushovers performing on their own turf.

CBC are making the longest trip from Bulawayo and burning to show what they learnt from their own workouts which they staged in South Africa last month.

All the participating schools will meet again at the Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival penciled in for later this month at Prince Edward.

However, Shaun de Souza, the Tigers coach, was not so sure of his team’s chances in the Kershaw Sevens Cup as several of his players returned injured from Namibia.

“We have managed to get some training sessions for this tournament and thankfully it’s a sevens tournament because about half of the 15s squad is carrying knocks from our tour of Namibia. But I can say we are looking forward to some good running sevens from the boys we have selected,’’ he told Sportszone.

Former Hellenic Academy player Brendon Mudzikitiri, now back in PE colours, is a sad omission from the Tigers team due to injury as he would have loved to meet his former team at the tournament.

PE 7s Team:

Godfrey Muzanargwo (capt), Leeroy Kagodora, Malvin Nyakuedzwa, Michael Mhute, Tinashe Hombiro, Tapiwa Marimira, Andriss Georges, Tinashe Chaza, San Maenzanise, Edwin Mutseyekwa, Darryl Mzkwasha, Nathan Tanyanyiwa and Anesu Haki.