Rooster Chicken Fijiana Drua captain, Bitila Tawake is pleased that they have re­mained unbeaten after the fourth round of the Super W competition.

The Fijians ended Waratahs 20-match winning run with a 29-10 win at the Cbus Stadium in Gold Coast, Australia on Friday night.

The Senirusi Servakula coached side are now on top of the points table with two weeks out from the final.

“Really pleased for the girls with the performance,” Tawake said.

“Thanks to the Waratahs for giv­ing us such a good game. It wasn’t an easy game.”

Losing captain Grace Hamilton told rugby.com.au, that they were punished for trying to beat the Drua at their own game.

“It was really tough,” she said.

“We tried offloads, which is not our game. We’ve just got to play the platform. We just let them into the game and they capitalised on our mistakes. And credit to them – they’re good at it. They make points of every turnover.”

The Waratahs had never previ­ously lost since the advent of the women’s competition in 2018 but the four-time champions had no an­swer to the Fijians’ attacking prow­ess and relentless defence.

A three-try blitz fired the Drua to a 17-0 lead inside 18 minutes at Cbus Super Stadium on Friday, with classy outside backs Vitalina Nai­kore, Kolora Lomani and Timaima Ravisa all finishing off long-range movements.

Winger Lori Cramer, easily the Waratahs’ best in the opening half, crossed in the 22nd minute to put the defending champions back in the game after pulling off some im­portant defensive saves as well.

But a runaway intercept try against the run of play to Raijieli Laqeretabua when the Drua had flyhalf Merewalesi Rokouono in the sin bin left the Waratahs play­ing catch-up in the second half.

Tatum Bird’s third try in two games, after more great lead-up work from Cramer, gave the Wara­tahs a glimmer of hope of snatch­ing a miracle draw with five min­utes remaining.

It was all over, though, when lock Sereima Leweniqila bagged the Drua’s fifth try two minutes later.

The Drua face Bumbies on Satur­day at the Suncorp Stadium in Bris­bane.

Feedback: leonec@fijisun.com.fj