Big reviews of last weekend’s matches will need to be done by both the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika camps following their massive losses in Round 5 of the Super Rugby Pacific competition.

The Drua was beaten 57-24 by the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday afternoon, before the Moana Pasifika was thrashed 59-0 by the Hurricanes in Auckland.

Game plan

Drua captain Meli Derenalagi believes the Drua are not following their game plans, calling for his warriors to trust the system.

Derenalagi was unhappy with how they performed against the Highlanders, especially after a win against the Crusaders three weekends ago and the close loss to the Reds the week after.

He said sticking to the pre-arranged approach is something they’ve struggled with after five rounds of Super Rugby Pacific.

“Starting from the first game until the end of the game, as soon as we know that if we stick to our game plan we can outplay them too. So that’s a major lesson for us, to stick to the game plan and trust our system. We didn’t stick to what we planned; we dropped from our system. They outplayed us but they were playing today (Saturday) like something else. For us, we didn’t stick to our game plan – that’s what cost us,” he told media.

Derenalagi could not have been far off the mark and the Drua will have to seriously look at their performances in the past three weeks if they are to beat the Melbourne Rebels in Suva on Saturday.

Unnecessary offloads in tackles, disarrayed defence and rushed options on attack stood out once again for the Drua, just like it has for the previous four games this season.

Hope for Moana

Moana Pasifika head coach Aaron Mauger said afterwards that they were good on attack but the Hurricanes were too good for them.

“When we came forward, we looked good, but credit to them, they were too good for us around the collision tonight (Saturday),” he told Sky Sports post-match.

“Our set piece has been pretty good, up until tonight ((Saturday) and at a couple of key moments down there the lineout got the wobble and missed a couple of scrum opportunities.

Once again, you can’t take anything away from the Hurricanes, they were good in those areas, probably more variation around our attack down here.”

“We were one-dimensional at times, we could’ve pulled the trigger out of the back and exposed the Hurricanes, but they were good, they were tenacious and they deserved the win and the scoreline.”

But Mauger is confident his side will get a win soon, even against the Highlanders on Friday at home in Auckland.

“There are lots to like about our game as well, we’ve put the best teams in the competition under pressure. I know we will win some games this year, it’s just a matter of time and tonight (Saturday) wasn’t one of our nights, but we’ll pick the boys up and have a good crack at the Highlanders next week.”

Scoring

The Drua struck first in the 13th minute against the Highlanders, when Apisalome Vota sliced through the defence before releasing the ball to Frank Lomani who dived over to score.

The lead was cancelled by the hosts when prop Jermaine Ainsley scored a try off the back of a Lomani mistake.

All Blacks prop Ethan de Groot, Argentina winger Martin Bogado and fullback Sam Gilbert scored for a 28-7 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the first half.

Selestino Ravutaumada broke through and put Taniela Rakuro into the corner for the Drua’s second try. Lomani missed the conversion before Highlanders flyhalf Mitch Hunt scored a try for his team’s 33-12 lead at half-time.

All Blacks half-back Aaron Smith and Jonah Lowe added tries in the second spell for the hosts before Tevita Ikanivere and Lomani scored again for the Drua.

The Hurricanes started with tries to Josh Moorby, Brett Cameron and halfback Cam Roigard as they led 19-0 at the breather.

Fijans Kini Naholo and Filipe Rayasi (2), captain Ardie Savea, hooker Hame Faiva and loose forward Peter Lakai all got on the scoreboard for the Hurriances to close off the big win.

Source: Radio NZ

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