Super Rugby Pacific: Time for revenge for Fiji’s Drua

Now is the time for redemption.

Twelve months ago, the Crusaders crushed Fiji Drua’s hopes with a 49-8 thrashing in the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific quarter-final.

This year, the Drua team got their revenge, defeating the former defending champions 20-10 at Churchill Park in Lautoka in March.

The victory also led to the Crusaders’ worst losing streak in Super Rugby history, ultimately missing out on the quarter-finals this year.

Fiji Drua will face the Blues at Eden Park this weekend as they advance to their second consecutive quarter-final in two years.

This is a record for the team, who only joined the competition in 2022 along with Moana Pasifika.

The Nadi-based team finished eighth last year.

This time they entered the quarterfinals as seventh place.

A lot of things happened in that regard.

Head coach Mick Byrne, who has been with the team since 2022, has been appointed as the head coach of Flying Fiji.

But he remained as coach of the Drua team. Some unhappy Fijian rugby critics believed that this was not a good move for rugby in the country, especially considering the two teams had different commitments and requirements.

His assistant, former player/referee Glenn Jackson, will take over as head coach.

Despite the club’s improved ranking after the regular season, domestic rugby critics have strongly criticised the team for its inconsistent performances, particularly its failure to win any away games this season.

The fact that Byrne and Jackson have still not been able to nail down their best squad for the past three years has also caused some concern in the Fijian rugby community as to whether the two coaches really know what they are doing.

But beyond that, Byrne said the Druas have an equal chance of winning Saturday’s big game, just like the Blues.

While he admitted that the Blues were favourites to win the title as they have Fijian-born Hoskins Sotutu among their key players this season, Byrne said if the Druas started strongly, maintained their form and took their chances over the 80 minutes of play, they could have pulled off an upset win.

He said the team showed in their win over the Rebels in Lautoka last weekend that they can withstand pressure, come back and win.

He said there was no tomorrow and they just had to give their all to the game.

“We just have to be ready and be at our best physically for Saturday’s game,” he told the media.

“A lot of people outside our circle say the Blues will win. We want to win, too. We need to get off to a good start, be consistent and keep going.

“What I really enjoyed about (last) Saturday was when we were behind, we hung in there, got back in the game, and when the game started, we caught up.

“That’s what we’re going to do on Saturday.”

Bryan said they needed to be physical against the Blues and maintain possession in order to score.

He said the lack of possession was a clear issue in the first meeting with the Blues earlier this season.

“We’re looking forward to showing our physicality this weekend. We’ve been working on it all season and showed some of it last weekend.

“There was a period where we didn’t have the ball for about 16 minutes. It’s hard to win games when you don’t have the ball.”

“Basically, sticking with the ball and maintaining possession was a good start for us.”

Blues fans are expected to pack Eden Park and Byrne hopes Fijians from Auckland and the North Island will be able to turn out to cheer them on.

He said the local fans in Suva and Lautoka have always been supportive and this always gives the players a boost when they play at home.

“Our players are really looking forward to hearing from you and we easily hear from our supporters, who are great,” Byrne said.

“I know for those of you who stayed and watched on TV, our players will bring your love and support to Oakland and they will do everything they can for you.”

He made just one change to the starting lineup that beat the Rebels last weekend.

Prop Livai Natave started the match and this was his first time to reach the quarter-finals.

The Blues send out a strong lineup to face Drua

Meanwhile, the Blue Team has sent out its strongest lineup to play against Fiji.

The team said Akira Ioane, Dalton Papali’i and Hoskins Sotutu will continue their combination as one of the most impressive loose forward trios in the competition.

Former Fiji Flyers coach Vern Cotter said Drua had a strong team and they needed to be ready.

He said his team needed to improvise during the game.

“If we lose these games, there will be no tomorrow, so we need to be precise, disciplined and clear about what we want to achieve against Drua”, this was the message conveyed by Wayne Cote when the team was named.

“We know Drua will be in person for this event; they always do. We need to prepare ourselves mentally this week for this tough rivalry and make sure we are in the right frame of mind when we play on Saturday night,” he said.

Kote emphasized how much support the team has felt from the crowd recently and called for more of that in the playoffs.

“A large, loud and passionate crowd really inspires the team,” he said.

“There were so many fans welcoming us off the bus at Gate A and it was really special to hear 22,000 fans cheering for the team.”

“Hopefully our players will be back at Eden Park on Saturday night for the final – we will do our best to put on a great show.”

The game will start at 7:05 pm on Saturday.