2018 Brisbane Tens Day 1 rolling live blog, results

Its here again, the Brisbane Tens is back for another year, but plenty has changed this season. Join The Roar for live coverage of Day 1 of the tournament, starting from 3:15pm AEDT.

» BRISBANE TENS DAY 2 LIVES SCORES AND BLOG

Last year we sweltered in 40C heat, so now Duco Events have introduced a day-night format which starts later, finishes later, and is more spectator and player friendly.

In the inaugural tournament, we saw 14 mens teams go head to head throughout four different pools. This time round it’ll be 12 teams through three pools with some completely different teams. The Blue Bulls from Pretoria, South Africa have been scrapped, as have the Western Force.

Samoa have been replaced by the 7s Olympic champions Fiji, and Toulon, following a largely disappointing 2017 campaign, are relegated in favour of Section Paloise.

In terms of the women’s comp, on the back of some successful exhibition games last year, a four-team comp has been brought into place involving NSW, Qld, Melbourne, and Canberra.

Pool A
This is by far the most unpredictable pool of the lot, with Japan’s Wild Knights, a new look Melbourne Rebels, hometown Queensland Reds and also the Blues.

Expect the Wild Knights to do very well in this pool, with maybe even first place. They have history in this tournament, doing well in last year’s edition, so I’m backing the Top League grand finalists in.

As for secondnd place, maybe the Reds? They made it through to the quarters last year, before losing out to the Crusaders.

Brad Thorn in charge has opted not to take a “wildcard” player of years gone by, into the tournament, instead focusing on youth. Samu Kerevi will also captain the side.

The Rebels look to be an interesting bunch. Looking at the squad there’s both Force influence, and plenty of Rising NRC. However, as was apparent from Saturday’s trial, they have a way to come yet.

That takes us to the Blues. Not a great deal of player continuity from last season, and they could well take time to get their combinations going this year. Don’t expect too much from the Aucklanders.

Pool B
The Waratahs have by far the toughest draw of all the Aussie sides, thrown in with the Otago men, Chiefs, and Pau as well. Don’t expect too much.

The Chiefs and Highlanders have both named reasonably strong squads, and bearing in mind that the 10s format suits them, expect first and second place.

Pau may be a surprise packet. The average rugby fan wouldn’t know much about them, but if last year’s tournament is anything to go by, expect the unexpected with foreign teams.

Pool C
Pool of death, no doubt.

Olympic 7s champs Fiji headline the list of powerhouses in this group. They are currently ranked ninth in the world in 15s, and won the Hamilton sevens last weekend.

The Brumbies must lift their game if they want success in the tens format, with a genuinely tougher draw than last year. Their wildcard player will be Andrew Walker.

The Hurricanes and the Crusaders have both named inexperienced squads, and while they may not look strong on paper, expect them to go deep into this comp.

Games kick off at 3:15pm AEDT.