Time for our Drua players to face reality

Forget about a sell-out crowd if the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua cannot lift their performance after their disappointing 30-14 loss to the Blues on Saturday.

We’ve been hearing the same old, same old things being spoken week in and week out from press conferences after the games.

The Blues executed a simple game plan with Beauden Barrett directing all their moves from No.10 and the Drua simply had no answer. Basic mistakes, wrong decisions and individual play were the order of the day.

The Drua could have beaten the Blues if they had played like the way they did against the Crusaders and the Rebels but it was not to be.

What was so touching was the huge turnout of fans who proudly wore their Drua t-shirts, caps and proudly waved their Drua flags during the match but only to return home disappointed.

Yes, we can’t win all the time but at least put on a performance that is worth every cent to watch. We’re living under tough economic times. This is evident in the increasing number of homeless people on our streets and those who are living under the poverty line and surviving on monthly Social Welfare benefits. This does not include the unreported cases of many people especially women and children who are not only victims of abuse but they do not know where their next meal will come from.

Fans, who are middle income earners, struggle daily to put three decent meals on the table for their families.

With whatever earnings they receive, to set aside $20 or more to buy tickets or merchandise to support the Drua is a huge sacrifice indeed. They do it simply because they love rugby and are proud of having a Fijian team in the Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific competition.

Again, these daily struggles by the Drua fans who are often termed as our ‘16th person’ on the field are real. Are the Drua players aware of what majority of their fans go through on a daily basis to make ends meet?

If not then why not the Drua management allow players to come out of their comfort zone to visit the market, offices (talk to workers who have mortgages), factories (talk to workers who are often termed as low income earners), villages, squatters, other settlements and even street kids to hear stories of their ordeal and sacrifices they make only to be at the Drua games to cheer them on.

These are survivors of life who live by the word Tabu Soro (Never Give Up) as stipulated on the Drua’s war cry i-Bole.

The Drua players must realise that they have got a lot to play for.

It’s not about themselves or their families. It’s about every citizen of this beloved nation, who are the real reason why the Drua franchise was set-up in the first place.