In the hunt

GOLLINGS USES MARIST 7S TO SELECT SQUAD FOR NEXT LEG

FIJI Airways Fijian 7s coach Ben Gollings will use the upcoming Fiji Bitter Marist 7s to select the national squad for the next leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

The Hong Kong 7s is next on the series calendar from March 30 to April 2 followed by the Singapore 7s from April 8-9.

Gollings said tricky thing was managing the team during the quick turnaround between the tournaments.

He said the boys were in recovery mode after the Los Angeles and Vancouver 7s tournaments.

“The team will get back into camp on Tuesday (tomorrow),” Gollings said.

“The other players in the squad who did not go to Los Angeles and Vancouver have been busy training. “We have the Marist 7s tournament coming up and will be using that to get more game time for the players.

“It is just to get that connectivity going.

“For the Marist event, we will have a balance of players who went to LA and Vancouver and players who did not go.

“We will have one senior team and we have got players whom we have identified playing who will be part of the Marist team.

“We couldn’t get another full team to play in the tournament. However, it is great as we have got players that we have identified that we can keep an eye on in other teams.

“It is all part of the development and pathway that we are trying to create.”

Gollings said the training squad would work hard this week. “Then we will look to select a squad and focus on preparation for Hong Kong.”

HSBC WRSS points: New Zealand 98, Australia 84, USA 82, France 66, Ireland 58, Fiji 48, Great Britain 44, Canada 26, Japan 25, Spain 20.

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