Last season Switzerland won five from five to gain promotion (calculated on the results in the last two season cycle) to the Championship while Poland were relegated to this level.
Poland are not in action in the opening round of action in the six-team event though, instead Lithuania and Luxembourg have the honour of being the first two sides to kick-off.
Luxembourg won promotion to this level after seeing off Moldova 19-0 in a hard-fought play-off contest back in May while their hosts had won win and four defeats last term.
The match in Šiauliai takes place at 2pm local time (11am UTC) on Saturday and is 50 in the world rankings versus 53 so it will be interesting to see how this one goes.
Another interesting contest in the same competition kicks-off an hour later when Sweden and Czechia meet in the Trelleborg Rugby Stadium at 2pm local time (noon UTC).
When these sides, who finished second and third in the standings respectively, met last October in Stockholm they dished up a classic.
Sweden eventually came out on top 48-37 and if there is more of the same this time around then the supporters who attend will be in for a treat.
These sides are 32 and 34 in the world rankings.
Click to see the calendar of Men's Trophy 2024/25
The men’s Conference for this season is already underway and it continues with two fixtures this weekend, both on Saturday.
In Štadión PFK in Piešťany at 2pm local time (noon UTC), Slovakia and Hungary meet.
This is a Pool B game and is Slovakia’s first outing in the competition while Hungary have played one game, losing 39-12 at home to Austria last month.
In the other Conference match at exactly the same time, Latvia are on the road to take on Norway.
Latvia are making their Pool A entrance here while Norway will be looking for home comforts in the Leikvang Stadion in Bergen after an opening 81-10 loss to Finland last weekend.
All games will be live on RugbyEurope.TV - and Lithuania v Luxembourg on Rugby Europe YouTube channel.
By Gary Heatly
