A promotional poster for the USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship features Gareth Jones, 2010 All-American and recent Temple graduate.

Get ready:  the world's toughest sport is coming to the world's toughest city, and the Temple men's and women's rugby clubs are carrying Philadelphia's flag.

This weekend, Temple rugby will be the only local school represented in the 2011 USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship, a nationally televised event that includes dozens of rugby matches and a two-day block party with gourmet food, rugby clinics and a free concert by the Celtic punk rock band Dropkick Murphys on Saturday night at 8 p.m.

The Temple men's rugby football club will be one of 16 top-level college teams from across the nation playing at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., on June 4-5. In Saturday's round-robin play, the men are scheduled to play Arizona at 12:10 p.m., Texas at 3:16 p.m. and Oklahoma at 7:30 p.m. The Temple women's rugby football club will compete in an eight-team tournament that begins at Drexel University's Vidas Field in Philadelphia on June 3 before concluding at PPL Park on Sunday.

Rugby sevens — played with only seven players per team on a full-size, 100-meter field — is a faster and more physically taxing variant of rugby union, the fifteen-a-side game commonly played in the United States around the world. With seven-minute halves, plenty of open space and only three substitutions per game, rugby sevens is a lightning-fast sport.

"Fitness and speed are paramount," said Gareth Jones, a RUGBYMag.com All-Collegiate honoree who recently graduated magna cum laude from the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. "The play doesn't stop. Four players are stuck out there the whole time. Seven minutes a half doesn't sound like a lot, but it's absolutely brutal."

Although Temple's men's and women's clubs have enjoyed success in recent years (both teams were 2010 Division II national championship finalists), they enter the elite field of the USA Sevens as underdogs. Rugby at Temple is a club sport coached by volunteers — not an intercollegiate sport played by varsity players with athletic scholarships. Yet the Temple clubs aren't intimidated by their competition this weekend.

"These students are doing it for honor, for the pride of representing their school and for the love of the game," said Temple men's coach John Sciotto. "They play blue-collar rugby. Yes, we have players who will drop some jaws with their speed and their elusiveness, but what people will respond to is their intensity, their passion and their sheer determination. On both the men's and women's side, they personify what's best about Philadelphia."

Temple players and coaches praised the Temple Campus Recreation staff for their support and commitment. The respect is mutual.

"The players and volunteer coaches have really stepped up in preparation for the USA Sevens," said Steve Young, director of Campus Recreation. "This is a big splash for a club team, but it has meant adding five weeks of extra practice and a commitment to doing promotion and media appearances to their long season."

Tickets for adults start at $25; Temple alumni and students may use the promotional code "alumtemple" for a 10 percent discount. Matches on Saturday and Sunday will be broadcast on NBC, Universal Sports and Versus. For more information on tickets, schedules, broadcasts and activities, go to www.usasevenscrc.com.