Historic Olympic gold medallists Fiji and Australia will make their return to competitive action following their respective triumphs at Rio 2016 ©World Rugby

Historic Olympic gold medallists Fiji and Australia will make their return to competitive action following their respective triumphs at Rio 2016 during the Oceania Sevens Championships, due to get underway at the ANZ Stadium in Suva tomorrow.

The Fijians, winner of their country’s first-ever Olympic medal of any colour when they claimed gold in the men’s tournament in Rio de Janeiro, will come into the two-day event on home soil as the overwhelming favourites to record another victory.

They have been drawn with Tonga, Papua New Guinea, American Samoa and Nauru in Pool A, with Pool B comprising of second seeds Australia, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia.

The tournament features a pool phase, which will determine the two finalists.

It is set to provide the competing nations with a key test on the path to the opening World Rugby Sevens Series event of the season, scheduled to take place in Dubai on December 2 and 3.

"Well, there is no bigger motivation than that and I think it has been a long time since we played on home turf," Fiji interim head coach Nacanieli Cawanibuka said.

"The boys have been thinking and talking about it the whole time they have been in camp. 

"We also totally understand that the people's expectations are really quite high and we are doing all we can to prepare ourselves as best as we can for the competition."

Australia are set to field a much-changed side from their Olympic gold medal winning squad ©Getty Images
Australia are set to field a much-changed side from their Olympic gold medal winning squad ©Getty Images

Australia, winners of the first-ever women’s Olympic rugby sevens medal at Rio 2016, are set to field a much-changed side from the team which finished at the summit of the podium in the Brazilian city.

Shannon Parry, Sharni Williams, Emma Tonegato and Alicia Quirk are the four survivors from the Olympic squad, with as many as eight who represented the country at the Olympics among the absentees.

"We know that this tournament is going to be incredibly tough and we will need to adapt to the challenges that come our way," said coach Tim Walsh.

"We have had a great preparation period leading into this tournament and we are looking forward to continuing to build momentum towards Dubai."

Australia will go up against hosts Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, Tonga and Solomon Islands, with the nation that ends at the top of the group after the completion of the pool matches taking home the title.