Australia's rugby sevens squad will play a six-match series against New Zealand and train with Japan to prepare themselves for their next Olympic qualification tilt.
Needing to win their Oceania regional qualifier in November to guarantee a spot at the Rio Games, coach Geraint John will finetune Australia's game with a testing build-up.
The Japanese national side, tipped to qualify through Asia, will play Australia in an exhibition match as a curtain-raiser to the August 8 Bledisloe Cup clash in Sydney.
John's No.5-ranked team will then train with the Japanese as part of a build up to a series, held over three days in Rotorua, against world No.2 New Zealand in September.
With no world series tournament's scheduled before the November 14-15 regional qualifier in Auckland, the six-match trans-Tasman series will provide an important test for sevens stalwarts to impress before Wallabies players like Quade Cooper and Henry Speight become available.
Samoa rank as Australia's biggest rivals in the qualifying tournament to make the 12-team Olympic competition.
Share
