Ryan challenges Oceania 7s players to play well

Vodafone Fiji 7s coach, Ben Ryan has laid the challenge for all the players taking part in the Oceania 7s to perform well if they are to stand a chance of being selected in the team to play in second leg of the IRB World 7s Series in Dubai.

Ryan said with New Zealand, Australia and Samoa fielding their top teams in the Oceania 7's, it will be a good chance for him to gauge where they stand before the series kicks off in Gold Coast next week.

The Vodafone Fiji 7s team is in Pool C of the Gold Coast 7s tournament with Australia, Scotland and Portugal.

Fiji will take on Scotland in their first pool match at 2.02pm next Saturday.

The qualification for the Rio Olympics will begin with the 2014/2015 IRB Sevens Series where the four teams at the top of the standings will qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.

This means that Fiji has to make a top four finish to automatically qualify for the Olympics.

By doing this, Fiji would avoid the regional qualification process.

The other teams will have to take part in regional rugby union Olympic qualification events, where one team from each region will qualify.

Meanwhile, the Fiji 7's team that will be playing in the Oceania 7s will depart today to Noosa, Australia.

The Oceania 7s will start this Friday and ends this Sunday.