Vodafone Fijian 7s head coach Gareth Baber will select 12 players for his long term plan after the Fiji Bitter Marist 7s at the ANZ Stadium on Saturday.

And a few Tabadamu players are on his list after the Setefano Cakau –led side overpowered Army Green 24-14 in the Cup final.

Tabadamu playmaker Terio Tamani is definitely on the Welshman’s radar after he selected the Ravitaki, Kadavu native, as the New Find of the tournament.

“I thought Tabadamu did well, they played the game at a high level and they wanted to break the game up as much as possible whereas Army Green wanted to get more structured,”Baber said.

“I think there were a couple of strong forwards making strong challenges up and down the middle of the field. The backline did their job. They have done well and are obviously on my radar as well.

“I would probably pick 12 but for subsequent tournaments I probably see more.

“I’m not going to pick 10 or 12 and put them in a programme and then take another 10 or 12, I would probably end up with 70 people in a squad.

“I got a team who plays more regularly and we got to perform at that level consistently, And once I start seeing that, then I will pick someone and take them to a tournament,” Baber said.

“It is my job to make sure they get that development process right.”

 ‘ICE’ TRYING TO FIND FORM

Former national 7s rep Isake ‘Ice’ Katonibau is focusing on getting back to his form after leading the Army Green over the weekend.

“I’m trying my best and trying very hard to get back into the rhythm,”Katonibau said.

“They have changed a lot of rules so I have to adapt to that as well.”

The Vodafone Fijian 7s squad marches into camp today for the Hong Kong-Singapore leg of the World Sevens Series next month.

VAKATAWA BACK TO BOLSTER FRANCE

France powerhouse Virimi Vakatawa will return to the World Sevens Series in Hong Kong following his involvement in the Six Nations.

The 24-year-old, who has scored 62 tries for France since his debut in 2014, has been named in Frédéric Pomarel’s 14-man squad to contest the next two rounds of the series in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Vakatawa’s try-scoring skill and physical presence has been sorely missed by France so far on the 2016-17 series, with the French currently 11th overall in the series standings after six rounds. Pomarel’s side finished 15th out of 16 in the last round of the series in Vancouver. France will contest Pool B against series leaders South Africa, Kenya and Canada.

Edited by Osea Bola

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