Oceania 7s sides to do battle

Host nation Australia are joined by New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands and Tonga.

The tournament will act as excellent preparation for Australia, New Zealand and Samoa who will all take on the top sides in the world at the IRB World Sevens Series in Dubai in December.

Seven teams will compete in the women’s tournament including Women’s Sevens World Series core teams Australia and New Zealand. Fiji, which caused the upset of the tournament last year by beating World Champions New Zealand in the Semi Finals, will be looking to go one better in 2014 after losing to Australia 22-5 in the final.

The overall tournament starts with Fiji versus Papua New Guinea and the first day concludes with the match between the top two women’s seeds New Zealand and Australia.

Host head coach Tim Walsh has named a strong Australian squad that will travel to the Sunshine Coast.

IRB Women’s Sevens Player of the Year Emilee Cherry, skipper Sharni Williams and Charlotte Caslick have all been named. Australian Youth Olympic co-captain Brooke Anderson has also been selected.

Tim Walsh said: “This will be great preparation for Dubai and is a competition we will be taking very seriously. It will be an opportunity for us to put into practice everything we have been doing in training during our first ever full pre-season as a squad.

Australia will also be sending another team playing under the banner of the Aussie Pearls.

New Zealand will also sent a side mixed with experience and new faces.

Coach Sean Horan has selected 27-year-old former Canterbury Tactix netballer Keshia Grant and Hamilton Girls’ High School’s star captain Ariana Hira-Herangi for the pre-curser tournament to the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series.

Grant, who has played for Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, Northen Mystics and Canterbury Tactix in the trans-Tasman netball competition, is turning her attention to sevens in a bid to make the squad for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Horan said: “Keshia is a very polished athlete with a great work ethic. She comes to us having played top level netball, she is a former junior javelin champion and a great all-around athlete. She hasn't played a lot of rugby but has been with Canterbury and had a few games. She's got loads of natural talent and is just eager to learn as much as she can.”

At just 18, Hira-Herangi has finally moved from the development squad to earn her first tournament selection.

With Huriana Manuel out injured until early next year at the earliest, Manawatu’s Sarah Goss assumes captaincy duties.

Fiji enter the tournament on a high having won the recent World Series qualified and claiming a spot on the circuit for the season ahead. How they cope against more experience opposition will give an indication of how they might fare this season

All of the games will be streamed over the two days of competition on October 4 & 5.

Fans can watch the live stream on this website - www.oceaniarugby.com