HSBC Sevens party kicks off in Hamilton this week

Tone Ng Shiu (left) and Etene Nanai-Seturo (right) with the Ngaruawahia Rugby Sports Club at the Sevens BBQ launch. Photo / Tom Rowland

Over 100 Sevens fans turned up for the kick-off of the HSBC New Zealand Sevens, with a free breakfast in Garden Place.

The Black Ferns Sevens and All Blacks Sevens teams hosted a free barbecue in Garden, while offering a chance for photos with the players, autographs and breakfast.

Garden Place will also be hosting the Sevens' 21st birthday celebration on Friday evening between 4.30pm and 6.30pm, featuring cake, live entertainment, games, activities, prizes, circus entertainment and another chance to meet your favourite Sevens players.

On the weekend the attention shifts to FMG Stadium Waikato, with the best Sevens players in the world showing their skills in the first fully integrated men's and women's HSBC World Sevens Series tournament in New Zealand.

The Black Ferns Sevens are pooled with Fiji, England and China, and the All Blacks Sevens with Scotland, Wales and USA. Both teams were victorious during the previous round in Cape Town.

Off-field there's great entertainment for the fans. Chart-topping reggae-roots group Sons of Zion will perform live on Saturday at the Mill Street Park R18 Entertainment Zone. They will be joined by Wellington singer-songwriter Louis Baker.

Top Kiwi acts Mitch James and JessB will also entertain Sevens fans during the weekend in what will be a gathering of some of New Zealand's hottest 2020 music acts.

There will be plenty of other activities to get stuck into across the weekend, with three festival zones in action – the Carnival Zone, Keppler X Haval VIP Zone and the Mill Street Park Zone. There will be amusement rides and a range of food trucks set up across the Festival Zones.