Top seeds England face another strong challenge from New Zealand, the current IRB champions and defending champions in Wellington, while South Africa have showed in the first two rounds they are also genuine contenders for overall honours.

These three sides totally dominated the first two legs - in Dubai and George (South Africa) - and nothing has happened since to suggest a major shift in the power base in the abbreviated version of the game.

South Africa beat New Zealand in the Final in Dubai, with England being knocked out by South Africans in the semi-finals. In George, the Kiwis lost in the Final again, this time to England, with the latter reversing their result against SA in the semi-finals.

Fiji, who lost to New Zealand in the dying seconds in George, were the other team to make the semi-finals in South Africa, while Samoa made up the fourth semi-final team in Dubai.

Those two, Fiji and Samoa, are also the most likely suspects when looking for the team that is expected to join the ’big three’ in the semi-finals this weekend. The obvious dark-horses in Wellington are the ever-improving Argentinians, who won the Plate competition in both Dubai and George, Australia and France.

England’s title prospects received a late blow when they lost two of their star players, Richard Haughton and Ugo Monye. Saracens were forced to hold Haughton back, owing to the amount of injuries at the club, but Harlequins flyer Monye had to withdraw with an injury of his own.

Also missing from the squad that did duty in George are Geoff Appleford, James Hoyle and Patrick Sanderson. However, squad captain Simon Amor, who missed his side’s 38-14 win over New Zealand in the Final in George because of injury, returns to lead the side.

New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens has gone in search of some out-and-out pace, absent during the Dubai and George events, and named 17-year-old Tauranga Boys High School star Tanirau Latimer in the Kiwi squad. Tietjens’ squad also includes two other newcomers in North Harbour’s Rudi Wulf and Grant McQuoid from Bay of Plenty.

The Springbok squad arrived in Wellington with a new captain and a new coach, but still enough talent to be regarded as one of the front-runners. The big change sees a fit-again Kevin Foote take over the captaincy from Marc de Marigny in caretaker coach Paul Treu’s first assignment in charge of the SA squad. Treu has taken over the coaching duties from Chester Williams, who is on Super 12 duty with the Cats as Tim Lane’s assistant coach.

Missing from the South African squad that played in George, are Kabamba Floors and Tonderai Chavanga, both of whom have been included in the Stormers’ Super 12 squad, and Jaco van Schalkwyk, who is injured.

Pools for Wellington:

POOL A: England, Australia, Kenya, PNG.

POOL B: New Zealand, Samoa, Korea, Niue.

POOL C: South Africa, Argentina, USA, Tonga.

POOL D: Fiji, France, Canada, Cook Islands.

Fixtures for Wellington (all kick-off times GMT):

Day One - Friday, February 6:Match 1: Fiji v Canada, 00.00Match 2: France v Cook Islands, 00.22Match 3: South Africa v USA, 00.44Match 4: Argentina v Tonga, 01.06Match 5: England v Kenya, 01.28Match 6: Australia v Papua New Guinea, 01.50Match 7: New Zealand v Korea, 02.12Match 8: Samoa v Niue, 02.34Match 9: Fiji v Cook Islands, 02.56Match 10: France v Canada, 03.18Match 11: South Africa v Tonga, 03.40Match 12: Argentina v USA, 04.02Match 13: England v Papua New Guinea, 04.24Match 14: Australia v Kenya, 04.46Match 15: New Zealand v Niue, 05.08Match 16: Samoa v Korea, 05.30Match 17: Canada v Cook Islands, 05.52Match 18: USA v Tonga, 06.14Match 19: Kenya v Papua New Guinea, 06.36Match 20: Korea v Niue, 06.58Match 21: Fiji v France, 07.50Match 22: South Africa v Argentina, 08.12Match 23: England v Australia, 08.34Match 24: New Zealand v Samoa, 08.56

Day Two - Saturday, February 7:

Bowl quarter-finals:Match 25: A3 v B4, 00.00Match 26: C4 v D3, 00.22Match 27: C3 v D4, 00.44Match 28: A4 v B3, 01.06

Cup quarter-finals:Match 29: A1 v B2, 01.33Match 30: C2 v D1, 01.55Match 31: C1 v D2, 02.17Match 32: A2 v B1, 02.39

Shield semi-finals:Match 33: Loser 25 v Loser 26, 03.10Match 34: Loser 27 v Loser 28, 03.32

Bowl semi-finals:Match 35: Winner 25 v Winner 26, 03.54Match 36: Winner 27 v Winner 28, 04.16

Plate semi-finals:Match 37: Loser 29 v Loser 30, 04.38Match 38: Loser 31 v Loser 32, 05.00

Cup semi-finals:Match 39: Winner 29 v Winner 30, 05.35Match 40: Winner 31 v Winner 32, 06.00

Shield Final:Match 41: Winner 33 v Winner 34, 06.30

Bowl Final:Match 42: Winner 35 v Winner 36, 07.00

Plate Final:Match 43: Winner 37 v Winner 38, 07.30

Cup Final:Match 44: Winner 39 v Winner 40, 08.00

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