Three Lessons for Drua
The Swire Shipping Fijian Drua needs to lift their game if they are to beat the Hurricanes in this Saturday’s Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific clash at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva. This was after the Drua’s dismissal 30-14 defeat against the Blues in Lautoka last Saturday.
A lot was expected of the Tevita Ikanivere-captained side but they never produced the goods when needed. There are three important lessons the Drua should take out of that encounter.
#1. Play smart
Playing at No.10 for the Blues, the elusive Beauden Barrett was their go-to-man. He directed every move and marshalled the defence when needed. Barrett also controlled the pace of the game.
After a tight start, he opted to take a penalty kick to give them a 3-0 lead. After, the Blues were 10-0 up he called up second five eight Harry Plummer to attempt a long range penalty, which went over to extend their lead to 13-0.
When the Drua fought back to narrow the deficit 27-14, Barrett opted to take a penalty instead of going for the tryline, the conversion went over making it difficult for the Drua as they were 30-14 down.
The same cannot be said for the Drua who was 20-7 down at halftime and soon after the restart had several kickable penalties but instead opted to use their forwards to drive over for a try. It did not happen and they lost the opportunity of getting three or even six points, which could have kept them within striking distance or even change the final scores.
#2. Bullied at the breakdown
Reluctance of the Drua forwards to compete at the breakdown made things easier for the Blues loose trio led by No.8 Hoskins Sotutu and captain Dalton Papali’i to execute their job. The Blues won two
rucks for a success rate of 100 per cent compared to the Drua’s 96 per cent. They hassled our players into mistakes and made life difficult for
our halfbacks. The hunger to compete for the ball and win possession was simply not there for the Drua. It seemed they had showed a lot of
respect for the opposition.
This is something they cannot do against the Hurricanes or we’ll be expecting another thrashing in front of their Suva fans.