World Rugby on Monday announced that the pools and schedule have been confirmed for the men's and women's competitions at the upcoming HSBC Cape Town Sevens in South Africa.

South Africa's Blitzboks, winners of the opening leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Dubai have been handed a tricky draw in Pool A featuring defending Series champions Fiji, USA and invitational side, Japan.

Blitzboks coach Neil Powell acknowledged it was a tough draw for the three-time Series champions but refused to overlook Japan, who he admitted could also play well on their day.

"It will be a tough pool. If you look at the pool it is one, two and four from last season's seedings. It will be tough but maybe that is something we needed to get a good challenge and if we can get through it nicely it will build character. Hopefully it is a good weekend for us and we will take it one game at a time and our focus is on the first game on Friday night against Japan," South Africa coach Neil Powell said.

Meanwhile, Kenya was drawn in Pool D alongside Samoa, who finished fourth in Dubai, Australia and Ireland.

Kenya will play Samoa in the second game of the tournament on Friday while South Africa and Japan will conclude day one of the tournament later in the day.

South Africa leads the men's table after the opening round with 22 points while Kenya is 13th with four points.

A standout feature of this tournament is the fact that Cape Town will debut as a host on the women's series. It will become the 16th stop since the series started in 2012-13 and the first-ever in Africa.

South Africa's women's side, an invitational team in this leg, was drawn with Dubai champions and series leaders New Zealand, Fiji and Russia in Pool A.

South Africa's opening match against New Zealand will conclude the first day of action in the women's series.

The tournament is scheduled to take place at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town from December 13-15.

Source: World Rugby