Vikings Next
The cold Canberra night, is the biggest obstacle the Fiji Airways Drua side must overcome in Friday’s clash.
In the fifth round of the Australia National Rugby Championship (NRC), the Drua travel to Viking Park to face Canberra Vikings at 9.30pm (Fijian time). Speaking to SUNsports yesterday Drua head coach Senirusi Seruvakula said they’re leaving early to allow time for the player to acclimatise.
“We need to adjust to the weather conditions over there,” he said. “It’s going to be cold and we won’t take the weather as an excuse as we want to win these two matches. That will guarantee our spot in the top four.”
The temperature in Canberra is forecast to drop to 3 degrees celcius tonight.
Seruvakula said there were no major injuries sustained by the players from the clash against Perth Spirit. “Everyone is all good to go again and we’re resting some players who have minor injuries. “There will be not much change; we’ll be moving players around again to see if they can play in other positions. I’ll be tightening up the bench again, putting Matai Ucutabua and Alivereti Veitokani to come in and start playing.” Seruvakula said the side continued with their gym and pool preparations.
“We’re giving a lot of rest time to the players. It was a tough game last Saturday and they got a short rest period and another big day of travelling tomorrow. That is the flight from Nadi to Sydney then the four-hour bus drive to Canberra.”