THE University of Pretoria women's rugby team is at it again.

THE University of Pretoria women's rugby team is at it again.

The Tuks team has quietly been building an international profile by taking part in as many tournaments as it can. The latest is the prestigious Cable and Wireless Worldwide Hong Kong Women's Rugby Sevens that kicks off tomorrow at the Hong Kong Stadium.

First up for Tuks in the pool stage of this one-day tournament is a match against the hosts, before they tackle five-time champions Aotearoa Maori from New Zealand.

Tuks coach Riaan van der Merwe called this tournament a top-class event and said getting the invitation to take part was a "big honour".

"We are hoping to win one of the two pool matches so we can advance to the next round - it would be even nicer to win both," Van der Merwe said.

"It has been an amazing experience to coach the girls. They are a very disciplined bunch," he said.

In our last tournament in Dubai, we finished in the semifinals and later in Reunion we were in the finals. It is an amazing feat since we are often the only true club competing against countries, basically."

Team captain Veronica Malantswane said her teammates were determined to win the respect they deserve and that they were prepared to knock defending champions New Zealand off their pedestal.

Other teams taking part are Arabian Gulf, Aussie Amazons, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Aotearoa Maori, Papua New Guinea, Singapore and Thailand.

Tuks and Malaysia will be making their debuts in the tournament.