Canes inflict Drua’s first Fijian defeat
Anyone doubting the Hurricanes as Super Rugby Pacific championship contenders needs only look at their win over the Fijian Drua in Suva to see their credentials.
In their 38-15 win last night, the Hurricanes showed their full toolkit as they were forced to adapt.
From periods of relentless pressure to spending the vast majority of the second half tackling and enduring a 10-minute stint with two men in the sin bin, then ending the game a man down, it all culminated in the Hurricanes handing the Drua their first loss on home soil this season.
Recently re-signed Jordie Barrett put in an immense shift in the midfield, making plenty of important tackles as the Drua looked to storm through the Hurricanes line. He was equally involved when his side had the ball and in chasing kicks.
Captain Brad Shields led by example defensively, while lock Ben
Grant was impressive on debut as he racked up a high tackle count and was a factor at the lineout.
It wasn’t the Hurricanes’ prettiest win — they were on the wrong side of a 15-4 penalty count and made more than 220 tackles while the Drua made less than 60 — but was one that proved the mettle of Clark Laidlaw’s team.
The Hurricanes are unbeaten in eight games in 2024 — their best start to a Super Rugby season.
“I don’t have many words after that,” Shields said. “We talked about it all week that it was going to be the effort early. We didn’t think we’d be down to 13 but it does show good character. The way we held it together on the tryline, the way we put it together on D, I’m really proud of our effort. It was an unreal challenge and it was good to come away on the good side.”
Hurricanes hooker Asafo Aumua had to be helped off the pitch with about 20 minutes remaining after sustaining a leg injury.
First-five Aidan Morgan was also forced off the pitch after five minutes due to injury but returned with a tape job around his head and over the bridge of his nose and was able to see out the game.
The Hurricanes opened with relentless pressure, capitalising when the Drua couldn’t clean up a Salesi Rayasi chip and TJ Perenara smartly found Billy Proctor to waltz over in the seventh minute.
The Drua hit back almost immediately, as Iosefo Masi charged through the line before moving the ball on to Isikeli Rabitu for the try. A mistake from the Drua on a goal-line drop out saw Devan Flanders go over easily off the back of the scrum, before Jordie Barrett and James O’Reilly crossed just before halftime to give the visitors a comfortable 28-7 lead at the break.
The second half was largely onesided, with the Drua spending most of it running at the Hurricanes, forcing their tackle count to rapidly mount.
The Drua struck through a lineout drive after the Hurricanes committed two jumpers to it which left them vulnerable but the hosts failed to break the Hurricanes defence again.
Even when Du’Plessis Kirifi (high tackle) and Isaia Walker-Leawere (cynical penalty on own tryline) were sin-binned within a couple of minutes of each other, the Hurricanes stood strong.
They ultimately had the last say, too, with Xavier Numia burrowing over from a lineout drive.
Fijian Drua 15 (Isikeli Rabitu, Kitione Salawa tries; Kemu Valetini con, pen) Hurricanes 38 (Billy Proctor, Devan Flanders, Jordie Barrett, James O’Reilly, Xavier Numia tries; Aidan Morgan 4 cons, Barrett con, pen) HT: 28-7