Bay of Plenty's summer of sevens is set to heat up with a number of secondary schools vying for hotly contested spots at the National Condor Sevens tournament.

This Friday and Saturday, around 50 Bay teams, across six grades, will contest the Bay Engineers Supplies Secondary School 7's tournament at Blake Park – the biggest running of the tournament to date.

A high school player on a rampaging run at Blake Park. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

But all eyes will be on the boys and girls under-19 divisions, with the top two boys teams and the winning girls team qualifying for the 28th edition of the BNZ Condor Sevens at Kelston Boys High School in Auckland.

Held on November 29-30, both competitions feature 16 teams along with an under-15 division held on November 28.

In the boys' division, reigning champions Rotorua Boys High School will be strong favourites to win the Bay tournament, with their main competition coming from traditional rivals Tauranga Boys College and Opotiki College.

In the under-19 girls' competition, Opotiki College and Te Puke High school will be the hot favourites, with Rotorua Girls High School and Trident High School the likely teams that could trip them up.

Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools manager Kyle McLean says to cope with the sharp rise in Sevens popularity, the rugby union has added a number of grades and an extra day to the tournament.

This year's edition sees an under-14 boys, under-16 boys, under-55kg and an under-15 girls' division, offering more opportunities for everyone to play throughout their school life.

Kyle says as part of the growing sevens strategy, a regional module has been piloted this year in Tauranga.

He says: 'The feedback from schools last year was they wanted more opportunities to play, so we have run a module at Greerton Rugby club each Tuesday afternoon.

'We have had 26 teams competing - mostly local Tauranga schools.”

Desperate for game time, the Opotiki College's under-19 boys and under-19 girls also made the two-hour trip to the module last week, along with the Western Heights team of the same discipline.

McLean hopes the module concept will take off in other regions next year.

'The concept is easy,” he adds. 'Find a venue, inform schools and clubs, put a couple of post pads and flags up, compile a draw and let them play.

'The module only lasts three weeks so there isn't a massive drain on resources.”

Bay Engineers Supplies Secondary School 7s tournament

Date: Friday October 31 (U14 Boys, U55kg Boys, U15 Girls) and Saturday November 1 (U16 Boys, U19 Boys, U19 Girls).

Time: 9am – 5pm

Venue: Blake Park, Mount Maunganui