A star-studded line-up of All Blacks Sevens stars from the past and present will be a feature of the opening day of the Bayleys National Sevens, including a handful of the Bay of Plenty's best.

The invitational match, to be played following 2pm's opening ceremony, looks set to wind back the clock on New Zealand's proud Sevens glory with greats Dallas Seymour, Zar Lawrence and Orene Ai'i among the fun spirited action.

Former All Black Sevens captain and now All Black and Chiefs flanker Liam Messam will turn out in the invitational match at the Bayleys National Sevens. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

This is the second year Rotorua has hosted the national tournament and tournament director Allison Stewart says the city is gearing up for an exciting two days of fun and sevens rugby.

'There will be something for everybody over the two days – great music, family fun and of course sevens rugby at its best,” says Allison.

The bulk of the All Blacks Sevens squad will also be turning out for their provinces as players get in valuable game time ahead of the next two legs of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Wellington (February 6-7) and Las Vegas (February 13-15).

A total of 16 men's and 10 women's teams are taking part with the defending men's champions, Wellington, bolstered by All Blacks Sevens Lote Raikabula and Ambrose Curtis.

The defending women's champions, Manawatu, are once again expected to be led by New Zealand Women's Sevens captain Sarah Goss. Most of the current women's squad will also be representing their provinces.

But the highlight of day one is expected to be the invitational match featuring the legends of the game.

Rugby stars running out include All Blacks loose forward Liam Messam, who won two Commonwealth Games gold medals (2010 and 2006) during his time with the national sevens side.

Former All Blacks speedsters and sevens Commonwealth gold medal winners Joeli Vidiri and Rico Gear are also pulling on their boots as well as long serving New Zealand sevens stars Dallas Seymour, Orene Ai'i, Karl Te Nana, and Craig De Goldi.

From the Bay former All Black Sevens specialists Brad Fleming and Zar Lawrence will revisit their skills a number of years after hanging up their boots. Fleming now a teacher at Te Akau Ki Primary School was part of the Gold medal winning side at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester while Lawrence was mainstay of All Black Sevens coach Sir Gordon Tietjens' side for a number of years.

Another Bay connection is All Black Sevens skills coach and video analyst Damian Karauna. Now based in Papamoa he played under Sir Titch between 1996-2003 along with the Hurricanes, Chiefs and overseas in Japan and finally Wales.

Current All Blacks Sevens DJ Forbes, Tim Mikkelson, Joe Webber, Sam Dickson and the Bay's Scott Curry are also turning out for the match.

Sir Titch is keen for all of the national team players to do their bit to promote the game which debuts at the Olympics in Rio de Janiero next year.

He is also looking forward to assessing the form of current players as the team prepares for Wellington and Las Vegas, as well as keeping an eye on emerging players.

Sir Titch will confirm one more player for his contracted squad after the tournament, while two wider training group spots also remain up for contention.

New Zealand Women's Sevens Coach Sean Horan will be watching the form of players closely as he looks to finalise his 2015 contracted squad of 20 shortly after the tournament.

The squad then assembles in Mount Maunganui on Monday 26 January to prepare for the second leg of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series in Sao Paulo (February 7-8).

Matches start from 10.05am, with the final match of the first day at 6.40pm. Day two sees the knockout matches played out.

Sevens Legends Game (Players and Water Boys):

Liam Messam Tim Mikkelson Joe Webber Karl Te Nana Zar Lawrence Orene Aii Ed Cocker Damian Karuana Craig De Goldi Rua Tipoki Rico Gear Joeli Vidiri Sam Dickson DJ Forbes Dallas Seymour Brad Fleming Peter Woods Jason Tiatia Hayden Reid Scott Curry Jared Going Darren Tiumalu Isaac Te Aute