The Digicel Fiji 7s team may be seeded second in next year's World Cup 7s tournament despite being the reigning champions.

The IRB has announced that every team will be ranked before the Pool is drawn for the Rugby World Cup 7s tournament in January next year.

As it stands Fiji is seeded second behind New Zealand, who won the 2007/2008 IRB World 7s Series. Gordon Tietjens team is on top of the points standings with 284 points while Waisale Serevi's team is in second place with 222 points.

The seeding for the men's competition will see the 12 IRB 7s World Series core teams ranked entirely on their points standing over the last two Series and the opening two rounds of the 2008/2009 Series, which kicks off next month.

The top six teams will each top a competition pool with the teams ranked seven to 12 drawn in the second band.

The World Cup 7s tournament will be held in March in Dubai.