Defying Odds Against Country Men
The Fiji Airways Drua need a complete performance to knock off Queensland Country in the semifinal in Toowoomba, Brisbane on Sunday. Rugby pundits are already predicting a Country-Canberra Vikings in the Australian National Rugby Championship final next weekend. And their prediction could not be far from perfect following Drua’s slump in performance in the last two games.
Two consecutive home defeats against Country in Lautoka (17-24) and Sydney Rays (36-29) in Suva was quite disappointing
The challenge is therefore on the John Stewart-captained side to defy the odds and bring their ‘A’ game into the finals.
The local players have never played in a high-class environment before and they will definitely gain from being part of it in the long run.
With the Fiji Airways Flying Fijians preparing in France for the three internationals starting with Italy in Sicily next week, the Drua players need to prove that they are in the making of becoming Flying Fijians in future.
Already six of the Drua players Frank Lomani, Mosese Ducivaki,
The local players have never played in a highclass environment before and they will definitely gain from being part of it in the long run.
Mosese Voka,Alivereti Veitokani, Ratunaisa Navuama and Joeli Veitayki are already with the Flying Fijians in France.
Fiji Airways Flying Fijians head coach John McKee said the objective of playing in the NRC is to provide an opportunity for local players to fight their way to become Flying Fijians.
“The NRC exposes players to a higher level of competition and makes them better players.
“I think we will start to see the benefits of taking part in the NRC at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.” Reaching the semifinal in the maiden year is an achievement for the Senirusi Seruvakula-coached side.
But they need to rise to the challenge and defy the odds on Sunday.