Fijian Drua able to control own destiny

9.35pm @ GIO Stadium, Canberra

TEN weeks down and Ɲve to go in the Shop N Save Super Rugby PaciƝc regular season and it’s great that the Fijian Drua Men are able to control their own destiny. But the next two weeks are crucial to their chances of making the quarter-Ɲnals.

Thanks to another win at Churchill Park over Moana PasiƝka last week, they remain in 7th spot but with just two more home games they desperately need to win a game or two on the road.

They’ll take some conƝdence out of the 7-point win over Moana in Lautoka, but it’ll take an 80-minute effort to beat the Brumbies in Canberra tonight. After they were up 17-nil at the break last week, the Drua again failed to put the opposition away.

I was impressed with the Drua’s Ɲrst half effort. Taniela Rakuro and Selestino Ravutaumada scored great tries and goal kicker Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula kept the scoreboard ticking over.

Thanks to plenty of Drua defensive pressure, Moana came up with unforced errors.

But it was a different story in the second half and Moana scored three tries to one to make a game of it. Fortunately, the Drua held on and moved to 17 points on the ladder, but they’re only seven points ahead of the bottom team the Force.

So, the battle for the last four spots in the Top 8 is really hotting up. If the Drua can’t break the drought on the road in Canberra this week or Perth next week, the pressure will be on to win their last three against the Reds and Rebels at home and the Highlanders away.

The Drua has never beaten the Brumbies and after Stephen Larkham’s men returned to form last week in Canberra to become the Ɲrst team to beat the Hurricanes this year, it’ll be a huge challenge tonight.

The Drua might have won three of their last four games against Aussie opposition at home, and 9 of their last 11 games overall in Fiji.

But they’ve lost their past 12 away games. It’s time to break the drought on the road.

The Brumbies have an experienced team with eight Wallabies in the runon side.

I’m really looking forward to the battle of the Fijian Valetini’s. Rob will start for the Brumbies while his older brother Kemu will add impact from the Drua bench. Rob told us on the Drua Talk TV Show that he isn’t expecting any favours from his older brother.

Head coach Mick Byrne has made Ɲve changes to the starting line-up. Ikanivere returns to the front row, Vocevoce starts at lock while Rotuisolia will add impact from the bench this week. Naitokani replaces Vota at centre and Ratuva comes on to the right wing.

There’s a positional change for Ravutaumada. He moves to fullback while Droasese is on the bench and promising young backrower Motikiai Murray gets another opportunity to gain experience from the bench.

The season didn’t end well for the Rooster Chicken Fijian Drua Women, losing the Final to the red-hot NSW Waratahs at Ballymore in Brisbane.

The Tahs raised the bar this season and have taken the Super Rugby Women’s competition to a new level.

If the Drua are to beat them next season they need to improve their Ɲtness, defence, discipline and skills.

That’s also the challenge for the other four teams as well. The Tahs went through unbeaten and 13 of their players made the Wallaroos’ squad named this week.

The majority of the Drua women now must focus on the upcoming Test campaign.

It’ll be a big step up for some of them but at least they’ve now had a good taste of what it takes to be an elite Rugby player.

It is a massive year for the Vodafone Fijiana XV with nine Test matches planned, a record for the national team.

They’ll compete in the Oceania series in Brisbane in late May and early June.

Then there’s a two Test series against Japan in June and the one-off Test against Australia is in July.

The Oceania Championship

is also the regional qualiƝer for the RWC 2025. From there the top two teams will qualify for WXV3 in October. WXV is the last chance to qualify for RWC 2025 if teams are not qualiƝed via their regions.

Drua W head coach Moses Rauluni moves straight across to the Test program, and I know he’ll be doing everything possible to make Fijiana competitive. They’re currently ranked 17th in the World but are capable of going much higher.

Bring it on!