THE Australian women's sevens team, featuring Rhiannon Byers, has been named for the Oceania Sevens Championship in Suva, Fiji this weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Joining the Aussies is a string of next generation players including Rachel Crothers, Hagiga Mosby and Madison Ashby.
Australia are the defending champions having defeated New Zealand last year in the final of the Oceania Sevens.
Due to the Olympic qualifiers, Australia will play in a separate competition team to the teams who are in the hunt for Olympic qualification but will meet Canada and New Zealand as the Aussies' fixtures.
"We've been building well into our season over the last few weeks and the Oceania Sevens gives us a great opportunity to continue to do so," Australian women's sevens coach, John Manenti said.
Related content: Byers' Aussies finish with silver medal at Glendale Sevens
"This tournament is tough, and we know just how hard teams will be coming at us this year.
"It's fantastic for Demi [Hayes] to be back in the fold, she's been working very hard to make sure she is in the best physical condition and she's hungry for game time which is great for the group."
The Oceania Sevens is the last major pre-season tournament before round two of the HSBC Women's Sevens World Series in Dubai.
Australia finished round one of the series in second place.
Joining Byers, who's grandparents Ian and Shirley Usher still live on Nowra, in the Aussie squad are Shannon Parry, Faith Nathan, Sariah Paki, Cassandra Staples, Hagiga Mosby, Georgia Hannaway, Rachel Crothers, Madison Ashby, Lauren Brown, Demi Hayes and Mahalia Murphy.
Their first match is on November 7 against Canada (12.56pm AEDT) before playing New Zealand the next day (11.06am AEDT).