Derenalagi to get possible game time

SWIRE Shipping Fijian Drua captain Meli Derenalagi could get the opportunity to play his first 2023 Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific match when they face the Crusaders at Churchill Park in Lautoka on Saturday.

Derenalagi injured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in May last year and was ruled out for the rest of 2022 season.

He underwent surgery in September and has been recovering the past few months.

Drua head coach Mick Byrne said the Olympic gold medalist could start off the bench this week against the 11-time Super Rugby champions.

“We know that Meli Derenalagi is not far away. So he’s presenting himself this week,” Byrne said.

“So if he can get through this week’s training, there might be an opportunity to start him from the bench. Well, we hope, but we’re not 100 per cent sure. So there’s a lot that could happen between now and Saturday.” Byrne will name his matchday 23 tomorrow. Meanwhile, the former New Zealand All Blacks skills and kicking coach said the team was developing after each game and had shown a big improvement from last season.

“Last year we struggled given the nature of where we came from as individual players. We struggled to put together more than four phases of rugby. Last week we showed that we can, we’re developing,” he said.

“We’re not a multi-phase team. We don’t try to be multi-phase but we are trying to get there because we know that our individual skills and the way we can play the game, when the game opens up we know the sort of skills our players have.

“We need to play tight and strong until that game opens up and I think that part of our game we’re improving each week. We improved on that from round one to round two, and this week against the Super champions is going to be a real challenge for us to get that going again.”

The match kicks off at 3.35pm.