TIMOCI Wainiqolo's second attempt as national sevens team coach is expected to be a lot tougher in Wellington compared to Gold Coast.
But if he does win, as the whole of Fiji expects him to, it would be poetic justice because the two countries are not allowing players with connection to the military to come over and play, preventing us from sending our best teams.
Winning would be like rubbing salt to the wound because they would be losing to a lesser team.
On the other hand, it is a blessing in disguise as it gives assistant coach Wainiqolo as well as a wide selection of players to get a chance to prove themselves.
Let's face it, the competition will have gone two notches up since last October in the fitness and well-preparedness of teams and combinations.
Another factor is that he is without two key players in that team.
Lepani Botia is nursing an injury and Alipate Raitini has joined a rugby league club in Australia.
Even if he comes up with two exact replicas, he will still need more as the hurdle becomes bigger as the series progresses.
Teams are progressing to hit their peak at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Russia.
Botia was a scavenger and a player who only had forward gear, no reverse when he was in possession.
Raitini was the biggest find by our coaches as he was devastating in attack and ruthless in defence.
No wonder the rugby league club scouts quickly noticed him.
Our demise in Dubai and George was perhaps we had no finisher like Raitini.
He also had the confidence to go alone as he did with that kick and chase past the Samoans in the quarter-finals.
The three blistering tries he scored in the final against New Zealand will be remembered for a long time. But then Raitini was an unknown before that and he was the secret weapon for Fiji in Gold Coast.
Now we have a couple of speedsters in the list of players who Wainiqolo is expected to expose in New Zealand. They are also our secret weapons.
But one important factor that stood out of the performance of the team as a whole was the way they defended.
Perhaps if rugby experts want to show players how to defend and tackle in sevens rugby then watching the replay of the Gold Coast Sevens performance by Fiji would be inspirational.
Commentators described it as 'unbelievable defence'.
Definitely that type of defence will have to be Fiji's main weapon to win in the Wellington 7s in New Zealand.
From daily reports, Wainiqolo's team are covering every aspect of team preparation and trainer Max Hughes is doing his bit and hopefully he gets a ticket because as he says, it takes the load and pressure off the coach.
The Wellington Sevens pools are A - NZ, England, USA, Spain; B - France, Argentina, Kenya, Tonga; C - South Africa, Wales, Samoa, Canada; D - Portugal, Fiji, Australia, Scotland.
In the quarter-final Pool A winner meets runner up Pool D, Pool B winner vs Runner-up Pool C, Pool C winner vs runner up Pool B, Pool D winner vs runner up Pool A.
In the semi-finals it's Pool A vs Pool C, Pool B vs Pool D.
Portugal is the seeded team in our Pool D because they reached the semi-finals of the Port Elizabeth Sevens but it does not change the way the draw is made as they face Australia in their first match while we face Scotland and take on Australia in the final pool game on Day One. But then no team is weaker.
If Fiji tops the pool then barring any upsets, it could face England in the quarter-finals. If we are runners-up in our pool then we could face New Zealand in the quarter-finals.
So for Wainiqolo every game is a final.
In the semi-finals, barring any upset we will face France, who is in second position on the HSBC Sevens World Series.
If Etuate Waqa's Tonga springs a surprise in that pool then Fiji could face the Tongans in the semi-finals.
Last year we lost 14-17 to Tonga in pool play but came back to beat Wales 19-0 in the final pool game.
New Zealand could face Samoa or South Africa in the other semi-final and if no upsets are made it's looking like another Fiji-New Zealand final.
Last year we beat Argentina 31-0 in pool play and in the quarter-finals we beat Samoa 28-5 and beat South Africa in the semi-final 21-5.
But we lost to New Zealand 24-7 in the final.
After last year's loss contributors to this column discovered why our players were sliding around in the Wellington wet conditions while Tomasi Cama ran rings around them.
It was proven in photos and television replays that our boys were wearing boots with plastic blade spikes while the Kiwis had metal spikes, which had a firmer grip on the soft ground.
So it would be wise to take extra boots and metal spikes in case it rains again.
Go Fiji Go!!