The surviving members of the Vodafone Fiji 7s squad that claimed the World Sevens Series title last season have added a bit more bulk to their frames, heading into the new season.

Coach Ben Ryan puts it down to a solid pre-season work-out, involving several core members such as Savenaca Rawaca, Jasa Veremalua, Apisai Domolailai and Jerry Tuwai.

Ryan was pleased with the players’ performance for their respective clubs during the Central Coast 7s in Australia last month.

“We’ve worked hard in pre-hab; making sure they are a bit more robust. They weren’t at their very sharpest but were pretty robust; you can see they are physically bigger than they were last season. They didn’t pick up any injuries which proves they are robust and it served them well in what was a high-quality tournament.”

Ryan will field two teams from the current 26-member national training squad in the Macuata Provincial Youth 7s tournament next Wednesday and Thursday at Subrail Park in Labasa.

A 16-member squad will be named next Friday to prepare for the opening leg of the World Series in Dubai next month.