Team sacrifice Christmas festivity to prepare for the second leg of the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in Brazil

Members of the Telecom Fijiana side are sacrificing the Christmas festivity to prepare for the second leg of the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series.

The second leg of the series will be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on February 20-21, next year.

The team resumed training yesterday in Suva following their two-week break from Dubai where they finished in seventh place.

They were undefeated in pool play and beat Spain 31-14 in the seventh place play-off after losing 12-33 in the Plate semifinal to New Zealand.

“We’re really looking forward to the next round because we know what we are capable of,” team captain Ana Maria Roqica said.

“I am proud of the girls and the improvement they have shown, especially under the guidance of our coach, Chris Cracknell who is also assisted by Ben Ryan.

“But I know there is still a lot of work to do and we need to focus on our fitness and structure.”

Fiji is on seventh place in the Series standings with eight points. Australia lead with 20 points, followed by Russia (18), England (16), France (12) and Canada (10).

However, getting to the Cup finals will not be easy as Canada, Australia and Ireland stand in their way of making it to the knockout stages.

“We have a tough pool again with Canada. They are a really good team, but hopefully we can pull another win against them,” she said.

“Australia will be our toughest opponents considering they won the last leg and we know that they will want to keep their consistency. We are not taking any team lightly and we will treat each game as the final,” she said.

The Sao Paulo 7s will be held at the Arena Barueri in Brazil.

Edited by: Anasilini Ratuva

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