The atmosphere is already charged as ten teams gear up for the second edition of  the Genocide Memorial 7s rugby tournament which kicks off today at the Amahoro stadium.   

The tournament will feature the seven league teams namely; Lions de Fer, Thousand Hills, Remera Buffaloes, Kigali Sharks, Muhanga RFC,UR Grizzlies, Kamonyi Puma and the national side, the Silverbacks.

According to the Rwanda Rugby Federation CEO, Jimmy Adams Mugabo, the national team will be using the competition to prepare for the 2016 Rio Olympics qualifiers which begin next month.

One foreign team, the Jinja Hippos RFC (Uganda) will also be taking part as they feature in their first ever tournament away from home.

The tournament was first held last year and was won by Lion de Fer, who will be aiming to turn around talk that they are a shadow of their old self, according to their captain, Olivier Nikwigize.

The national league champions and pre-tournament favourites, Remera Buffaloes will be hoping to win a second trophy for the season.