The Ariel Re Bermuda 7s kicks off at the Bermuda National Sports Center this weekend, with 11 US college teams and a Bermuda Collegiates squad in competition.

An official event of Bermuda Rugby and the Bermuda Tourism Authority, the inaugural two-day sevens tournament will feature pool play on Friday afternoon and evening (3:30p - 9:00p Eastern) with championship matches culminating Saturday afternoon (11a - 5:00p Eastern) March 19.

Leading the list of teams is Kutztown University, which swept the field at last week's Capital 7s Series event at James Madison. 

In that tournament Kutztown fielded two teams, despite being without stars Alex Faison-Donahoe, Robert Stortz, Ian Carmichael, and Vetakina Malafu, all of whom will be unavailable until April. In that Capital 7s tournament, KU 1 beat Mary Washington, Loyola, and Maryland, while KU 2 beat Salisbury, JMU, and VCU. That put them in the final against each other, so instead they played the #2 team from the opposite pool, and KU1 beat Salisbury while U2 beat Maryland.

Now just one Kutztown team comes to Bermuda and they have to be one of the favored squads.

However, Notre Dame College, which lost the LVI College 7s and their own tournament in close games (12-10 in Vegas, overtime in Ohio), will also be a strong contender.

Pool A is solid top to bottom but Dartmouth and Stony Brook will probably challenge for #1.

Here are the pools:

POOL A: Dartmouth College 1, Stony Brook University, Columbia University I, Norwich University.

POOL B: Kutztown University, Dartmouth II, Yale University I,  Boston RFC Collegians,

POOL C: Bermuda Collegians,  Notre Dame College, St. Joseph's University, Yale University II.

The full schedule is here.