12 Oct 2013

Sport: Samoa coach excited by new faces for 7s Series debut

9:25 am on 12 October 2013

Samoa sevens coach Viliamu Punivalu is looking forward to the start of a new era this weekend on the Gold Coast.

The former national Under 20s coach will take charge of his first World Series tournament later today when Samoa come up against Argentina, Australia and Scotland in pool play.

Samoa have been in impressive form over the past month, winning both the Pacific Mini Games and Oceania Sevens Championship titles.

Viliamu Punivalu says a number of new faces have added some healthy competition to the battle for places in the team.

"Last weekend I took eight players to the Oceania in Fiji and from that eight only five survived so those that will be debuting on Saturday and Sunday. We're planning to get some exposure for the players - that's the only way to learn. You can't buy experience, you have to play in it so if we can get as much as we can that will put us in a good spot and build a good base for our player pool."

Samoa's first match is against Argentina later today while Fiji and Tonga first take on Canada and Kenya.