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Fiji Sevens will be relying on a team of playmakers heading into the Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens tournament in South Africa this weekend.

Assistant coach Etuate Waqa believes Fiji must not rely on one playmaker. Instead, he said, all the players in the team must be playmakers.

With playmaker Livai Ikanikoda out because of an injury he sustained during the Dubai 7s last weekend, Waqa said the rest of the team would have to step up and take the pivotal role.

Waqa said they had been training players for this role to create opportunities and build play during games.

He said the players responded well and they were ready to fill the vacuum left by Ikanikoda.

"We can't single out a player for this role (playmaker). They are all-rounders and they all can be playmakers," he said.

"Every player in the sevens game needs to be a playmaker to create opportunities for his fellow players. Every time when a player carries the ball, he needs to think of how to create opportunities for the players beside him and how to beat the players ahead of him."

With the national team heading into the third tournament of the HSBC Sevens World Series as points leaders, Waqa said it was important for them to maintain their lead. He said the players recovered well from the travelling and injuries in the past two tournaments and were ready for this weekend's campaign.

Waqa said finishing the opening leg on a high would set a good platform for the team in the remaining legs.

Fiji is pooled with Wales, Portugal and Zimbabwe in Pool D. The side plays Portugal in the opening match of the tournament at 10.37pm this Friday.

Ruled out until after Round 4 in Wellington

3 key players that were part of the Digicel Fiji 7's campaign in this leg of the IRB 7s series are likely to be ruled out for the NZ and the USA 7's in February.

With the team now settling in for the Nelson Mandela Bay 7's this weekend, the coaching staff will miss Setefano Cakau, Jimilai Nakaidawa and Livai Ikanikoda for the start of a new season.

It is confirmed that Ikanikoda will need a month to rest his knee injury.

As the first leg comes to a conclusion in South Africa this weekend the challenge facing Alifereti Dere and Etuate Waqa is to look for capable replacements knowing that Army players will not be able to travel to Wellington.