Telecom Fijian Warriors head coach Senirusi Seruvakula will only take 25 players for the 2016 Americas Pacific Challenge which will be held in Uruguay on October 8-16.

This was after hooker Sireli Ledua withdrew from the squad due to work commitment.

“My main concern right now is injury, we only have 25 players and 23 will wear the jersey,”Seruvakula said.

“We play USA Selects on October 9, Samoa on October 13 Samoa on Wednesday and Argentina XV on again on October 17.

“All these teams are bringing in their national players.

“This is going to be a good challenge to the local boys playing in provincial level competitions.”

The 25-member squad marched into camp on Wednesday and also had their first fitness test and will be having two training sessions daily before flying out next Monday.

“I’m impressed with the players’ fitness level.

“80 per cent of these players are new to the Warriors programme so we are doing a lot of work in our pattern.

“This is another level for these players but I’m impressed with the outcome.”

The Fijians will play their first match against USA Selects 5:30pm(FJ Time), Samoa A at 3:30pm and their final game against Argentina XV at 7:30pm.

The Americas Pacific Challenge has been introduced to boost the high-performance pathway for the test arena and supports the Americas Rugby Championship and Pacific Nations Cup as well as November international test window preparation.

Pool A features Argentina XV, USA Selects and Samoa A, while Fiji Warriors, Canada A and Uruguay A are in Pool B.

Edited by Osea Bola

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