Super Round battle for Drua and Moana
WATCHING the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua last week brought back memories of some previous away games when they failed to capitalise on scoring opportunities and poor discipline also cost them dearly.
The Blues are coached by former Flying Fijians coach Vern Cotter and he’d done his homework. The men from Auckland were semi-finalists last season and judging by their efforts last week, they’ll be very competitive again this season.
Even though they were in Whangarei and not at Eden Park, they still looked right at home. They weathered an early onslaught from the Drua and then were able to control possession and territory for long periods of the match.
The result was never really in doubt and the Blues won it 34-10, scoring 6 tries to 1. But the Drua had plenty of opportunities to reduce the deficit however poor execution or a lack of patience cost them.
I counted at least six-line breaks from the Drua but instead of going to ground and maintaining possession they threw some 50-50 passes that didn’t hit the target or they simply spilled the ball.
Some of that could be put down to having some new combinations, but the new boys can’t be blamed for the loss. I thought they handled the step up to the elite level and will be much better for the experience this week.
While the penalty count evened out in the second half, the five penalties conceded by the Drua in the opening 20 minutes pretty much allowed the Blues to take control. A yellow card didn’t help proceedings.
The Drua won’t be the only team to lose to the Blues at home and once again the results prove that life on the road in the Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific is tough. Just two teams won away from home. The Brumbies and Hurricanes.
While head coach Mick Byrne will never be happy with a loss, once again he found plenty of positives in the first up effort. They were able to find some holes in a very good Blues’ defensive pattern and there were some good individual performances.
Home Basics Drua Player of the Match Tevita Ikanivere was his normal busy self, starting the season where he left off last year. Re-signing for another two years is a nice way to start the new season.
I thought Elia Canakaivata had some good carries and Selestino Ravutaumada was busy as usual. I’m looking forward to Apisalome Vota and Iosefo Masi getting more opportunities to build their combo this week against Moana.
Yes, it’s time to get back in the saddle and attempt to keep the perfect record against Moana Pasifika intact. The Drua have won all three encounters, but a couple of the results were too close for comfort.
Moana are also coming off a first up loss in Dunedin, but I liked a lot of what I saw in their 35-21 defeat. New coach Tana Umaga and his assistants, former Welsh great Stephen Jones, Tom Coventry, Pauliasi Manu and Damian Karauna look to be on the right track.
New recruit the ‘Bus’ Julian Savea looked menacing in the midfield. If he can stay fit and with Wallabies Christian Leai’ifano and Sekope Kepu in the match day 23, they’ll have some experienced players to guide them late in the game.
Drua coach Byrne has stuck with his starting backline from last week and there’s just the one change in the forward pack. Rookie Mesake Vocevoce has been promoted to start at lock in
place of Leone Ratuisolia.
There are four changes on the bench with Haereiti Hetet, Te Cirikidaveta, Simione Kuruvoli and Junior Ratuva making the trip to Melbourne. It’s Kuruvoli’s first Super Rugby Pacific game since 2022 while Ratuva has moved on from his stint in rugby league with the NZ Warriors.
Finally, the spotlight is on Melbourne this weekend as it hosts the Super Round for the third straight year. With the Rebels’ financial troubles well publicised in the pre-season, it was important for fans to turn out in big numbers last week to show their support.
Unfortunately, it was a poor crowd and if the numbers aren’t great this weekend with all 12 teams in action over three days, it’s hard to see Super Rugby Pacific surviving in Melbourne. That’s a real shame because it is Australia’s sporting capital.