Fiji's players impressed at the weekend as they took all of the major silverware at their home Digicel Suva Sevens Festival.
Fiji Barbarians, the shadow national side coached by Iliesa Tanivula, won the Suva Cup by beating surprise finalists Waimanu 45-0.
It was also a good weekend for the shadow national teams of both USA and Canada, while Samoa, Tonga, PNG, Australia and Kenya were also all in action.
Fiji's speedster Osea Kolinisau scored a brace and further tries from other World Series regulars Jiuta Lutumailagai, Setefano Cakau, Seremaia Burotu and William Ryder cemented victory in the Cup final.
"It was good to get one back on Waimanu after yesterday (pool loss) and the boys showed a lot of mental strength. While it was disappointing to make mistakes it is something we can build on," said Tanivula, who is set to name his national squad on Monday.
"We will concentrate on recovery tomorrow and hopefully will get the naming of the team right after that. We have been watching a few of the teams and some of the players are for the future".
Fiji had earlier beaten the
USA Cougars, USA's shadow national team, 33-5 in the semi finals after the Americans had enjoyed a 12-10 win over the Wardens.
Morgan Williams'
Canada side, competing as the Maple Leafs, finished runners-up in a competitive Plate trophy that underlined the quality on show throughout Fiji. The Cannucks were impressive in reaching the final but were eventually beaten 27-12 by Ratu Filise, a village near Sigatoka on Viti Levu.
Manawatu from New Zealand edged
Tonga 17-12 to win the Bowl and
Samoa Barbarians, another of the shadow national sides using the tournament to prepare for the IRB Sevens World Series events in Wellington and Las Vegas, beat the Army 28-7 in the Shield final.
Elsewhere,
Australia and
Kenya were also preparing for the next two World Series events by competing at the Hottest Sevens in Darwin, but neither side took the Cup title.
International Invitational side the Borneo Eagles beat Kenya, competing as Wakimbizi 7s, and then the ULR Samurai 36-21 to take the title.
Australia injury-hit
Australia's preparations for the upcoming NZI Sevens were also dealt a significant blow on home soil with injuries to three key players.
The Australians had to make do without inspirational captain Patrick McCutcheon, who watched on with a groin strain, while Shaun Foley broke his ankle and Brian Sefania was taken to hospital with a suspected foot fracture.
On the final day's play Australia lost to eventual runners-up ULR Samurai 29-10 in the quarter finals, but O'Connor remained positive.
"The standard of competition was really good, it's the hardest Sevens tournament in Australia," O'Connor said.
"Today was disappointing, we were hit by injury and in Sevens you've got to start well and in all of our games we struggled to do that.
"The Samurai were red-hot in the quarter finals and again, they're a Kiwi-dominated side and were coming out of the national Sevens tournament - they were great players, so it was a good experience for our boys and we know where we're at.
"We're in the wars a bit injury-wise but overall we got a lot out of it going into the next two IRB events.
"Fortunately we've now got two weeks to prepare for Wellington."
Queensland win Darwin Women's Cup
Nine current Australian representative women's rugby players were also in action in Darwin, among them a handful of Rugby World Cup Sevens winners from last year.
Australia Sevens captain Cheryl Soon was expected to fare well with her Amazons team and they did make the final but came uunstuck against a strong Queensland side, skippered by the national team's vice-captain, Trisha Brown.
Queensland beat ACT 14-12 in the semi final and then ran out 24-5 victors in the decider against Soon and the Amazons to claim the Jabiru Trophy.