West is best for Vegas preps.

The Fiji Airways Fijian 7s side will set up camp in the West this week before flying out for the USA on Friday ahead of the Las Vegas 7s set to kickoff on March 1st.

Gareth Baber will continue with the extended squad of 18 players for this final preparation phase, maintaining the fiercely competitive training environment the players have been performing in for the last few weeks.

“All the players from last week will be in again this week. Some of the newer players have put their hands up which is good, and what I want. But I’m obviously still looking for that consistency, continuity in the squad and making sure that we’re going to be as competitive as we can.” he said.

“We’ll keep working on the finer points of what we need to do in these next tournaments, to climb to the top of the table.”

Before he finalises the team to head to Las Vegas, the Fijian squad will spend time familiarising themselves with the conditions and atmosphere they expect to encounter during this tournament.

“This week we’ll be training a bit more under lights which is important because in Vegas and in Vancouver you play into the night, so it’s important to get some familiarisation with that before we head off.”

Baber explained that players will continue to train at Lawaqa till Wednesday where they will than go on a short leave to spend time with families before jetting off for the US on Friday.

Leaving the extra two days earlier for the USA and Canada legs helps to manage the 22hour travel schedule and ensure the team get a bit ahead of playing catch up through the week and put the players in the best position to perform day one of tournament.

“For anybody who ever has travelled across the world knows it’s tough on your body and mind, so we go that little bit earlier, with the support of the FRU. It’s only a couple of days earlier, but I want us to be there on Sunday and ready to go. It prevents injury, protects from injury and illness when we’re in a good position through the harder work days after travel.”

Fiji is in pool D with Australia, Wales and Scotland whereas their first match kicks off at 11:22pm on Saturday against the Scots.