The team’s recovery will be one of the challenges that Fiji Airways Fijiana 7s Interim coach Timoci Volavola and his coaching staff will try to overcome before the start of the HSBC Dubai 7s this Saturday.
Volavola says most of these players are travelling overseas for the first time and dealing with time differences and jet lags, so he and his coaching staff have set out a program to try and get the players recovered on time.
Volavola named 9 new players in his final 13-member squad for the first leg of the 2024/2025 HSBC World SVNS Series.
He says he gave a chance to most of the experienced players to come back into the squad but only a few returned and the rest chose to take up other offers.
Volavola says he is taking up the challenge of working with these new players and he believes they will step up on the world stage.
The Fijiana 7s is in Pool A alongside Ireland, Australia, and China.
They will take on Ireland at 5.44pm Saturday in their first pool match, they will then face Australia at 9.05pm the same evening and then play China at 1.13am Sunday in their final pool match.
The women’s cup quarterfinals will kick off at 5.20pm Sunday, the semifinals will begin at 9.12pm and the cup final will be at 3.35am Monday, December 2nd.
Meanwhile, the Fiji Airways Men’s National 7s side is in pool C alongside Spain, New Zealand and the USA.
Fiji will take on Spain at 6.06pm this Saturday in their first match, they will then take on the USA at 9.52pm next Saturday before they play NZ at 3.16am next Sunday in their final pool match.
The men’s cup quarter finals will kick off at 6.48pm next Sunday, the semi finals will start at 10.06pm next Sunday and the cup final will be at 4.11am Monday 2nd December.
