HSBC World Rugby Announces Pools for 2023 Los Angeles Sevens

Pool A features New Zealand, Samoa, USA and Chile. New Zealand won the recent Sydney Sevens and is currently leading the men's leaderboard, with Samoa in third. The top four teams at the end of the season in May automatically qualify for Paris. Team USA is in seventh after a rough finish in Sydney while Chile will make its first appearance of the season.

Pool B includes South Africa, Ireland, Uruguay and Canada. The Springboks have bounced back after a rough ending to last season and are in second place. Ireland, one of the real underdogs last season, is in ninth, with Uruguay in 11th and Canada 14th.

Pool C is headlined by Fiji and Australia, with Kenya and Japan rounding it out. Fiji, the winners of gold in the last two Olympics, is currently in fifth place after some sluggish tournaments while Australia, last season's champions crowned in Los Angeles, is in eighth. Kenya is in 12th and Japan is a few spots below at 16.

France, Argentina, Great Britain and Spain are in Pool D, the fourth and final group. France has been one of the early surprises of the season having jumped to a fourth-place start thus far, with Argentina in sixth. Great Britain is in 10th and Spain is in 13th.

The schedule of games has not been released yet, but pool games will take place on Feb. 25 with knockout and placement games on Feb. 26.

Dignity Health Sports Park, home of the LA Galaxy, is the host site of the tournament.