13 Feb 2015

Sport: Fiji have "point to prove" at Las Vegas 7s

12:06 pm on 13 February 2015

The Sevens World Series resumes in Las Vegas at the weekend with Samoa and Fiji both looking to bounce back from early exits in Wellington.

Samoa failed to qualify for the Cup quarter-finals for the third tournament running and have slipped to ninth in the overall standings, with only the top four earning an automatic spot at next year's Olympics.

Fiji slipped to third overall after being knocked out by England in the Cup quarters.

Despite not being a fan of the conditions in Las Vegas in previous years, Ben Ryan now believes it can work to Fiji's advantage.

"The boys are going to be good on a narrow pitch the way we want to play: big strong runners offloading, keeping the ball alive [and] defensively it will allow us to be even more aggressive. Teams that can look after the ball have done well - Samoa and South Africa in the past - but we can still find space. You've only got to see the boys playing in their villages back home - they can make a lot of space out of very little areas and the pitch should not be a negative for us at all. We can really play our normal game, I think, on it."

The Pacific sides face a tough start to the Las Vegas event, with Wellington champions New Zealand and Wales also in their pool.