The Fiji Airways Fijian 7s team are confident of a good outing at the Oktoberfest 7s tournament set for September 21-22 in Germany.

This was the gist of head coach Gareth Baber’s message as he flew out of the country with a new-look team yesterday.

“Obviously it’s a mixed group, some boys who are fresh to the 7s environment while some boys have played 7s for quite a while here In Fiji,” Baber said.

“Then other boys who have been involved with us over six months to a year so I’m looking forward to putting them under some pressure to see what they’ve got.”

He said the Oktoberfest tournament is an ideal opportunity for new players to get a feel of playing against some top teams.

“Part of the process is to learn what it is to play at this level not just on the field but off the field as well. The travel that takes place and the stress it puts on your body and obviously the ability to get yourself where you need to go to with the intention to win tournaments. That’s what we’re here to do And I just want to see how they react and how they develop.”

Baber said they’ll fly back next Monday straight after the tournament and then take a rest for a couple of days before they back into training.

“That’s part of our training block, we always planned it like that although it’s a competition, we don’t play the HSBC till December and we don’t play the Olympics until next July so I understand what we want to get out of it.”

Baber added that they are not counting out any team but they are focused on achieving their own set of targets.

“Australia has a different agenda to us, America and New Zealand. So we’re all doing our own training programme but what they want out of it, I’m not worried about. I’m just concentrating on what we want out of ours,” he added.

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua