A viral infection among the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua players affected their final preparations for the Crusaders match, last Friday night.

Speaking to SUNsports on Saturday, Drua head coach Mick Byrne said he is keeping his fingers crossed that it does not happen again this week.

“We had a bit of a (stomach) bug in camp and we had four or five players not available for the Crusaders game,” he said.

“(Vinaya) Habosi and Kiti(one) Taliga were not well enough to play. Four or five other players had the bug but took the field. It’s a shame that this happened late in the week.”

Byrne said he is happy that they are back in Fiji.

“It is great for the boys having been away for so long.

“There was a lot of learnings from the Crusaders game, they are a champion team.

“The pace that they played the game was really fast.

“We always talked about it and the boys knew that the first 30 minutes of the game was going to be physical,” he added.

“The Hurricanes, Crusaders and Highlanders understand the pace that they need to play at this level. “So we will be ready for the Chiefs this weekend in Lautoka.”

Vocal crowd

Byrne added that they are expecting a smaller crowd compared to their Highlanders match in Suva, where 15, 102 spectators filled up the ANZ Stadium.

“It will be two different venues and the size of the crowd like in Suva will not be there but we expect the crowd to be just as vocal to cheer the boys on.”