Daunting? Nahhh~, say the NTU at the prospect of confronting SMU in the finals of the SMU 7s this weekend.

Global interest will boom for a fixture between a SMU side that is trying to fill up their cabinet with a 3rd trophy and a NTU outfit who have steamrolled NUS in the NUS 7s. Both NTU and SMU are expected to be tournament favourites.

With the stakes so high, NTU assistant player/coach Qing was in a surprisingly chipper mood when he faced journalists at the team's hall in a late-night press conference there.

"It didn't matter who is organising the 7s, we are going to get a good side. We are probably one of the favourites for the tournament," he said.

"It's an exciting challenge for us, we lost to SMU in the NUS 7s last year and it's exactly what we need at this point, to regain some pride and to show that we can also dominate in 7s competitions."

When asked about facing NUS in the SMU 7s,

"It's probably better to get NUS in YCK than NUS in NUS, it's going to be a great week."

Qing said the NTU coaches had been keeping an eye on SMU since they won the NUS 7s tournament nearly a year ago, aware that SMU were on course to become a force to be reckon with in 7s.

NTU have beaten SMU in each of their last 2 meetings in 15s, mostly by handsome margins.

However, Qing said the SMU rugby teams had the sort of athletes and skill level capable of mounting a serious threat.

"On their day they can beat anybody, they've proven that time and time again," he said.

"We've been fortunate against them a few times but thats in 15s."

"If you get too far ahead of yourself, you end up packing your bags and going home. We don't want to be doing that."

One of the great mysteries heading into the match will be the level of crowd support for both teams.

A healthy chunk of NTU supporters are sure to have booked tickets on the assumption the NTU would face either SMU or NUS in the finals.