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Having lifted the Wellington Sevens at the weekend, Fiji head into this weekend’s inaugural Las Vegas Sevens as many people’s favourites.

Before Wellington, New Zealand were tipped to go on to win another World Series title under their coach Gordon Tietjens, but now sit just four points ahead of the South Sea Islanders who have all the momentum.

They conquered all the big guns they crossed paths with in Wellington; Australia, the eventual Plate winners, the reigning World Series holders South Africa, defending Wellington champions England, and Island rivals Samoa who were buoyed by the return of two of their Sevens stalwarts.

However, they did not meet New Zealand, and one wouldn’t bet against the two of them meeting in Las Vegas to determine who really does have what it takes to become the 2009/10 champions.

Fiji stated that much of their success had come from a re-focusing of their work ethic and training plans, with the squad admitting they had trained hard throughout Christmas and New Years to give themselves an edge coming into Wellington.

Fiji was the most threatening attacking team in Wellington, scoring 29 tries in six games. Samoa was the second best offensive unit with 23 scores.

Defensively, they were even better, conceding just eight tries over the tournament. New Zealand was second best only letting opponents cross their line nine times, but they played one less match.

Among those watching the tapes of the Fijians intently this week will be US Eagles coach Al Caravelli. Caravelli is a student of the game and would watch them anyway, but he also faces the challenge of preparing his young side for the daunting task of taking on the islanders on as early as day one at the USA Sevens.

Prior to the Wellington event at the weekend, the Eagles played in the Suva Rugby Festival and staged a camp in Fiji where they played several practice matches against them, but now all that practice will be put to the test.

"Fiji was phenomenal, we worked very hard there in very hot weather and high humidity and we believe that it can be a foundation for the rest of the Series," Caravelli told the IRB.

This will be something that Gordon Tietjens will have noted too, with the long time New Zealand coach believing that it is defence first and foremost that wins you games and more importantly tournaments throughout the Sevens series.

As the action moves to “Sin City” the matchups will be intense from the off, with three of the Cup quarter finals replayed on the first day of clashes at Sam Boyd Stadium.

New Zealand will play Australia, Kenya will face Samoa, and the Fijians will for the fourth time this season clash with current Sevens champions South Africa.