Fijian centre Viliame Satala could miss the World Sevens Circuit after reports received from France stated that he had injured his left arm badly in a club game.
It is believed that doctors have ordered Satala to rest his arm and not to play rugby for two months. National sevens coach Peni Veidreyaki said that they were still trying to finalise details with Satala and to confirm the injury. "He (Satala) sent us a fax and I have yet to talk to him" Veidreyaki said.
The coach said that Satala had injured his arm in club match in Lautoka after he returned from the rugby World Cup. "Vili didn't tell me anything about the injury when we met after the World Cup," he said.
Satala has only been at his new French club, Mont de Marsan, for two weeks.
Meanwhile, members of the national fifteens rugby team selected for the sevens squad will be free to choose what they will do when the 2000 Epson Pacific Rim Series gets underway in May next year. Satala, Waisale Serevi and Imanueli Tiko will be engaged with sevens duties in the World Sevens Circuit right through to June. Coach Peni Veidreyaki said that when the time came, the players would be free to make their choice.
"I would love to maintain them in my team for the rest of the Circuit tournaments but then again the fifteens code is also a call for national duty and therefore we must take that into consideration," the coach said. The national side is in camp in Suva and went for their first run together yesterday afternoon at the Bidesi ground.
"I am happy with the response I am getting from the boys at training, it's very positive and I can see that they are all willing to learn and are adamant to prove themselves," Veidreyaki said. "The wing positions have been affected with the absence of Fero Lasagavibu and Imanueli Tiko"
The side will participate at the Topline Sevens in the weekend where the final team for the Dubai and South Africa sevens will be named.