Swire Shipping Fijian Drua assistant coach, Brad Harris, said it right that they need to do a lot of soul searching before taking on the Brumbies this Sat­urday.

Harris frustration is understand­able as the players kept making the same mistakes week in and week out.

Now, it has gone to another level with cards being dished out due to reckless swinging arm.

What’s next is anybody’s guess?

To look at the level of experience among the players selected this has to be expected.

With the exception of Baden Kerr, Teti Tela and late inclusion Frank Lomani, the rest of the players are new to Super Rugby.

Even Tela could still be regarded as a newbie since he had only one Super Rugby game under his belt before joining the Drua.

To record one win and five losses, is remarkable when we take into consideration how we took Queens­land Reds and Western Force right down to the wire.

These players have performed above expectation and are gaining confidence day-by-day. Their best are yet to come.

For head coach Mick Byrne and his coaching staff they are doing all they can to put on the right com­bination.

It has been a learning experience and there are important lessons learnt but at the same time we need take heed of it and make the neces­sary changes.

Here are three areas that have been troubling our Super Rugby Pacific campaign

#1. CATCH UP RUGBY

Super Rugby winning coach, Mi­chael Cheika, right from our Super Rugby debut on February 18 had outlined the simplest way to beat us.

He said it was keeping the ball deep into our territory. There they can pressure us into mistakes and for their kickers to keep the score­board ticking and ensuring there is a big gap on the score margin.

We’ve been playing catching up rugby in all our six matches and this has got to stop.

We’ve got to start strong, take the lead and hold it right to the final whistle.

Yes, there’ll be challenges but it is the way to go in Super Rugby.

#2. LINEOUT WOES

Almost every week, we’re told that they are working on perfect­ing our lineout throws but this is not reflected in the game.

The frequent failure of our hook­ers to connect with the jumpers has become an eyesore.

Probably, they need to work on improving their communication but moreover, they need to spend countless hours of practicing their throws, until they get it right.

#3 RIGHT COMBINATION

Flying Fijians head coach Vern Cotter shared his interest of see­ing Simione Kuruvoli being given a chance to play at No.10.

What Cotter is implying here, the need for us to find the right combi­nation?

We’ve got to shift players around and see where they play to their best.

Onisi Ratave is a natural centre but was shifted to wing while play­ing for Bay of Plenty.

He offers a lot of options at No.13 and combines well with Kalaveti Ravouvou at second five eight while Vinaya Habosi on the wing.

That combination did wonders for Namosi during their 2020 Skipper Cup season where they also had the Farebrother-Sullivan Trophy in their cabinet.

Loose forward, Rusiate Nasove is also a possible contender to part­ner Habosi on the wing.

Nasove replaced Tuidraki Sam­usamuvodre on the wing and eas­ily beat his opponent to the ball to score a try against the Waratahs.

We can go on and on but it is a matter of trying things out and see what is best for us.

Feedback: leonec@fijisun.com.fj