Pool A could lay claim to being the most open of the three pools ahead of kick-off in Paris.
The action will get underway when Ireland, second only to Argentina in the regular season SVNS standings, take on South Africa at 17:30 local time before New Zealand – chasing their first men’s sevens gold medal – meet Japan.
Ireland were one of the most consistent teams in SVNS 2024, reaching five of the seven regular season Cup semi-finals to finish two points off the top.
Their ranks have been bolstered by 15s star Hugo Keenan and the thought of the Leinster full-back linking with Terry Kennedy and Jordan Conroy is one to set Irish pulses racing.
“The confidence is really high. We’re not overdoing or overthinking it, but we definitely can say we are contenders for a medal,” Mark Roche said last week.
“We are going for gold, we have the ability to win gold. It’s just small things that if we can fix by ourselves, our own game will be fine. We can definitely take it to everybody in Paris.”
That quest will start against the Blitzboks, a team they have beaten four times in their previous five meetings, including the fifth-place play-off in Madrid.
South Africa were the 12th and last team to book their place in the men’s tournament, having to come through a competitive repechage, beating Great Britain 14-5 in a tense final in Monaco last month.
Those exertions followed a mixed SVNS season that began with a tournament victory in Dubai but failed to ignite after as injuries and a collective loss of form took hold.
Former captain Siviwe Soyizwapi returned from injury towards the end of the campaign, and he adds experience to a talented squad alongside the likes of captain Selvyn Davids, Zain Davids, Impi Visser and Rosko Specman – who is set for a second Games eight years after his first.
The Blitzboks will bring the curtain down on the opening day when they take on New Zealand at 21:30 local time in Saint-Denis.
Having ended the SVNS regular season with tournament victories in Hong Kong and Singapore, before a fourth-place finish at the Grand Final in Madrid, the All Blacks Sevens head to Paris as one of the in-form teams and deserved number one seeds.
The pool of talent available to coach Tamasi Cama is highlighted by the fact that Sione Molia and Joe Webber, both double Olympians, have made the trip to Paris only as travelling reserves.
Dylan Collier will captain New Zealand at his second Games, while Scott Curry and Regan Ware prepare to appear at their third.
All three were part of the team that finished as runners-up to Fiji in Tokyo three years ago, as was Andrew Knewstubb, whose injury-plagued journey back into the famous black journey has been a challenging one.
“It was always the goal to get back here, so living out that dream was pretty unreal,” he said.
"Now, we've got one more goal: to win that gold. I'm the best prepared I can be, and now I'm looking forward to dipping in, and I know the rest of the boys are.”
The All Blacks Sevens face Japan in their opening match on Wednesday. Simon Amor’s side head into the tournament as 12th seeds having finished a disappointing eighth in the 2024 Challenger.
Japan have pedigree in upsetting the Olympic form book, though, and beat New Zealand for the first and only time during the Rio 2016 pool stage, winning 14-12 en route to fourth place.
