A disappointed Hurricanes captain Ardie Savea said there was no excuse after their 27-24 loss to the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua in the Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific clash at Suva’s HFC Bank Stadium.

“The Drua is dangerous and very scary,” said Savea.

“We knew it was going to be tough. The Drua played for 80 minutes and they were awesome.”

It was two late penalty kicks converted by replacement five- five eight Kemu Valetini that swung the match to Drua’s favour.

Drua stand-in captain Tevita Ikanivere said they were relieved to be back on winning form.

“We are aiming to reach the quarterfinal,” he added.

The 23-year-old hooker thanked the fans for coming out in big numbers to support them.

Drua halfback Frank Lomani missed two penalty attempts in the first half. However, the Drua scored the first try to winger Taniela Rakuro with Lomani landing the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

The Hurricanes replied with a try to Julian Savea with Jordie Barrett missing the conversion as they trailed 7-5.Towards the end of the first half Hurricanes lock Isaia Walker-Leawere copped a yellow card for continuous infringement.
At the start of the second half Savea zig- zagged his way over for his second try with Barrett missing the conversion as they led 10-7.

Then Drua centre Iosefo Masi exploited a gap in the Hurricanes backline before offloading to Rakuro to dive over for his second try. Lomani converted to Drua ahead 14-10.Hurricanes then upped the tempo using their big forwards to lead the charge with prop Xavier Numia crashing over for a controversial try.

Repeated television footage saw that Numia had lost the ball over the line but it did not convince referee Jordan Way and Barrett added the extras for a 17-14 lead.The visitors kept the pressure on due to the Drua’s poor handling from the 50-50 passes they were marking.

And it was flanker Du ‘Plessis Kirifi scoring a try from a forward rush with Barrett converting for a 24-14.Then tactical changes by Drua’s head coach Mick Byrne paid dividend with halfback Peni Matawalu from a high ball scooted through a gap in the Hurricanes defence before passing it to Ikanivere who was brought down close to the tryline but managed to offload it to Meli Derenalagi to score a try. Valetini converted to narrow the deficit 24-21.

Then Drua took control of the scrums with tighthead Jone Koroiduadua giving former All Blacks loosehead prop Owen Frank a tough time. A penalty to the Drua saw Valetini slotting it over to make it 24-24.
Then disaster struck for Hurricanes when Leawere got a red card for his second professional foul and from the penalty Valetini kicked it over for the 27-24 win.

Story By: leonec@fijisun.com.fj