ASSISTANT national sevens coach Etuate Waqa has welcomed the International Rugby Board's decision to have 10 tournaments in the 2012/2013 HSBC Sevens World Series.
Argentina was announced as the second pit stop in the Series that is played in nearly every corner of the world. Waqa said besides the additional tournament IRB has also allowed each team to bring 15 players to each tournament compared to the usual 12. He said this would help with players share the workload throughout the series.
"It will be a big relief to the players knowing that it will back to two tournaments at a time," Waqa said.
"However, it doesn't change anything, it still is a huge task, playing in the two tournaments a time from October till May and then playing in the Rugby World Cup Sevens in June in 2013.
"But its fair now that the player base has also been extended from 12 to 15 so now players will share the work load and there will more time for recovery for players."
He said since the series begins in October this year with the Gold Coast Sevens tournament in Australia, Fiji's preparations would have to begin a month earlier.
"We will have to be smart with the way we re-assemble the national team now. In the first week of September we will have a fitness test and after that till October, we will have weekly camps," Waqa said. "Also, we will need to see how many players still have available because we have been hearing some of them have taken up overseas contacts."
Sevens star Waisea Nayacalevu has taken up a contract with Stade Francais while Metuisela Talebula has been rumoured to have signed a contract to play in Europe.
"If we lose these players, we will have big shoes to fill and that is another challenge for us because last year we set a platform by bringing in these players and helping Fiji rise back to the top," Waqa said.