They will be tested in this week’s Bayleys Coral Coast 7s

Telecom Fijiana coaching director Chris Cracknell has included some Under-18 players to join and prove themselves in the team.

Seven of them were part of the women’s team which won the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa last year.

“Today’s preparation is the end of the 10-day period with the girls gearing up towards Coral Coast 7s,” he said.

“We hope to see great things this weekend from the Under-18 girls we are developing.

“The girls had their fitness test last week and they have worked hard and they’re starting to put their hands up.

“Joana Sauto has proven herself and has laid down the mark for her fellow players to prove themselves and had put some senior players under pressure,” Cracknell said.

He said their main focus would be the third round of the Women’s Sevens World Series in Sao Paulo, Brazil on February 20-21.

“Our main target is Brazil, so many of our senior players will have a lot of reduced game time.

“We are monitoring some of them who have played a lot on Christmas and they have played fantastically well in Dubai and also securing our spot in the 2016 Rio Olympic.

“So the big players will have a reduced game time. In this tournament, I want to see the girls who haven’t played that much and to see the youngsters how they fit into our programme and plans and how far off I think they are from playing at national standard.

“A couple of the girls could make the step up from what we’ve seen in training. It’s just to make sure that they can make the cut and how they can fit into the Fijiana jigsaw,” he said.

Edited by Maikeli Seru

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