The Telecom Fijiana team will have to win the Oceania regional 7s rugby Olympic qualifier to take part in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

This was after the completion of the 2014-2015 World Women’s Sevens Series in Amsterdam over the weekend where New Zealand, Australia, Canada and England have gained automatic qualification for the Rio Olympics

The regional qualification tournament will be held to decide the remaining six teams.

The Oceania regional qualifying tournament will be held in Auckland, New Zealand on November 14-15.

They will be going up against teams in the Oceania region including Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Cook Islands.

Fiji Women’s Rugby Union secretary Vela Naucukidi said with the Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea coming up in July, Fiji will need to aim for gold.

“So basically they should try and retain the gold at the Pacific Games as they will be facing the same teams in the Oceania qualifiers,” she said.

Fiji finished in eighth position in the World Women’s Sevens series with 32 points after they had a convincing 38-12 win over China in the Bowl finals in the Amsterdam 7s, Netherlands.

Meanwhile, New Zealand won the Women’s Series title with a total of 108 points maintaining their lead from Dubai to Amsterdam to secure their third series title.

Canada, Australia and England secured the remaining three automatic qualifier sports to the 2016 Rio Olympics after all three finished on 96, 94 and 76 points respectively, with Canada winning the Amsterdam 7s.

The major upsets of the first day of competition saw USA shock New Zealand with a 34-5 thrashing while Spain narrowly defeated France 7-5.

Brazil, China and South Africa will join a series qualifier which they will need to win in order to qualify for the 2015-2016 World Women’s Sevens Series.

Feedback: justine.mannan@fijisun.com.fj