Super W defence to send a message

Fijiana Drua captain Bitala Tawake believes back-to-back Super W titles could help grow the game back home, where she said people still say that women don’t belong on the rugby field.

The Drua turned around a three-game losing streak to stun the undefeated Waratahs in their semi-final last week, earning a place in Saturday’s grand final against the Queensland Reds in Townsville, a curtain-raiser for the “union State of Origin” showdown with NSW later on Saturday night.

After a perfect inaugural season in 2022, the Fijiana were ransacked of their talent and only nine members of the squad remained for this season.

Tawake said the group had overcome the initial challenges of building combinations to become a formidable team.

“This year we didn’t have as much time (to prepare) and then we had a new mix of girls – most of the girls that we have in this year have never even played rugby,” Tawake said.

“Especially for women’s rugby back at home they’d usually say that women don’t belong on the rugby field, so I think this is one of the ways that we can prove to them that women also can do what men can do on the field.

“It will be pretty special if we get that back-to-back title.”

Standing in their way will be the Queensland Reds and their captain Shannon Parry.

Parry said they expected a tough contest that would be won in the forwards.

“They bring a lot of strength and a lot of power there and it’s just going to be who can execute those crucial moments at the right time,” Parry said.

“We’re happy to take the underdog tag and just go out there and play some footy tomorrow afternoon and hopefully we can do Queensland proud.

“It’s a great opportunity to come to Townsville and bring the game to more of a regional area and really encourage the next generation. Especially for the women’s game, it’s a growing market. We’re obviously competing against a lot of other codes and I think for us to bring it to regional areas you capture more people.”