The teams are drawn into one of three pools for the Olympic rugby sevens.

New Zealand's pool for the Olympic men's sevens tournament has been confirmed at a ceremony in Rio.

Gordon Tietjens' side headlines Group C and will play Great Britain, Kenya and Japan when rugby makes its return to the Games in August.

Reigning World Series champions and gold medal favourites Fiji are the top seed in Group A alongside USA, Argentina and host nation Brazil.

PHOTOSPORT Sonny Bill Williams is expected to be part of the New Zealand side going for gold in Rio.

Group B, meanwhile, is made up of South Africa, Australia, France and Spain, who secured the final spot in Rio by stunning Samoa in the global repechage tournament two weeks ago.

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LAURA MCQUILLAN/Stuff.co.nz World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset talks about rugby sevens' Olympic return.

New Zealand's pool is the weakest based on last season's World Series form and they will be heavy favourites to go through unbeaten.

Having only come together for the Olympics, the Great Britain side have little experience playing together and lack any big-name 15s players.

Kenya are capable of beating anyone on their day, as they showed when they won the Singapore Sevens in April, and Tietjens will certainly be wary of the African nation.

LAURA MCQUILLAN/STUFF.CO.NZ World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset was impressed by the temporary Olympic rugby stadium.

Japan will simply be happy to be in Rio after qualifying for the Games despite not being a core team on the 2015-16 World Series.

In the women's tournament, New Zealand are in Group B along with France, Spain and Kenya.

Women's World Series champions Australia headline Group A ahead of USA, Fiji and Colombia.

RIO 2016 A view of the rugby stadium in Deodoro, in Rio de Janeiro's northern suburbs.

Group C is made up of Canada, Great Britain, Brazil and Japan.

Both the men's and women's events will be played from August 6-11 with the New Zealand teams to be announced in Auckland on Sunday.

'FANTASTIC VENUE'

The venue - a temporary pitch and stadium in the northern Rio de Janeiro suburb of Deodoro - is on the verge of completion, and World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset, who was at the announcement, is confident that players' concerns about the venue have been allayed.

After falling weeks behind on construction, organisers abandoned plans to sow the turf, instead rolling out grass in time for a venue test event in March - and several competing teams noted it was obvious the grass needed more time to grow.

Lapasset visited the pitch on Tuesday morning (local time) and rated it "fantastic", after personally having a run on it.

"I'm sure it's totally ready to go ... It will be fantastic for the quality, fantastic for the possibility of running, and pushing, and tackles."

Rio's Games will end a 92-year Olympics hiatus for rugby, and it's the first time the sevens format will be played in the Games.

Lapasset admits there's still work to be done to convince the International Olympic Committee to retain the sport beyond Tokyo in 2020.

"It's a challenge. We have to be successful the first time we play rugby sevens in Rio, we have to be successful on the field and off the field, we've convinced the IOC members that the story that the players play [out] on the field will be fantastic.

"[It's] a big difference to what we had in the past, unique in the story of the Olympics, that is the story that we have to write now and, as for the fun off the field, it will be the same."

He was hopeful its Olympic inclusion would spur rugby's further expansion overseas, with a larger pool of potential qualifiers in four years' time.

And as for who might win? Lapasset is refusing to back one side, but says a great end to "the story" would be a Fiji win.

"Fiji has never won a gold medal (in any sport) before - why not this time?"

OLYMPIC RUGBY SEVENS GROUPS

MEN

Group A: Fiji, USA, Argentina, Brazil

Group B: South Africa, Australia, France, Spain

Group C: New Zealand, Great Britain, Kenya, Japan

WOMEN

Group A: Australia, USA, Fiji, Colombia

Group B: New Zealand, France, Spain, Kenya

Group C: Canada, Great Britain, Brazil, Japan

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