Fijian Drua hopeful of reaching play-offs
Despite the 32-18 loss, the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua is still hopeful of a top eight Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific finish and qualify for the play-offs. Drua captain Meli Derenalagi said every team in the competition is always giving their all when it comes to their home games. “This is because they want to win on their home turf,” Derenalagi said in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday night.
“This also goes for our boys as we always want to defend our turf by winning our home games.” Derenalagi said this is what they are focused on as they face Moana Pasifika at Churchill Park, Lautoka, on Saturday followed by the Queensland Reds clash at the HFC
Bank Stadium in Suva on June 3. Drua head coach Mick Byrne said they need to win both these games and hope the other results go their way so they could qualify. “We had sat early this year and set this target of making the top eight or the quarterfinal,” he said. “We let a couple of games slip away but there were also games where we managed to win also. “We’re still focused on that target and keep on working hard to achieve it.”
Byrne said they had a chance of winning their last two matches against Western Force and the Waratahs but it did not eventuate because they did not make use of their opportunities to score points. Moana Pasifika suffered a 41-7 loss to Crusaders at the Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand on Friday night.
Just a glance
Moana Pasifika’s final two games are away fixtures against the Fijian Drua and the Waratahs.
If they fail to win either of those games they’ll become just the fourth team in Super Rugby history to go through an entire season without winning a game, emulating the Bulls in 2002, the Lions in 2010 and Waratahs of 2021.