As well as observing the men’s world series champions at first hand, Roqica says the opportunity to play against some of the best teams in the world has also been invaluable in their sevens education.
“We lost against New Zealand in the Dubai semi-final and we learned a lot of things from playing them; they are so skilful and they are fitter than us. It made us realise the level of fitness that’s required and we’ve worked hard on that aspect of our game, with two training sessions a day for the last month or so.”
After Langford, the world series has just one more tournament left to run, in Clermont-Ferrand, France, at the end of May.
Attention will then turn to the Olympic Games in Rio where Fijiana will be hoping to win a medal of some description.
“It’s real and it’s in front of us and Chris always has to talk to us about the need to win on the series too,” said Roqica, whose side will face Atlanta runners-up New Zealand, USA and Spain in Pool B in Langford.
“I missed the Sevens World Cup in Russia and my dream now is to be part of the squad of 12 that competes in Rio. If we can’t get gold, we will try to get a medal of some form.”
If they achieve that then it will be Fijiana, and not their more famous male counterparts, who create history as Fiji’s first Olympic medallists.