Drua Vs Wallabies: Kali

Swire Shipping Fijian Drua loosehead prop, Kaliopasi Ul­uilakepa, believes they are facing an Australian Wallabies B side in tomorrow’s Super Rugby Pacific clash in Canberra.

Uluilakepa was referring to the 11 Wallabies named in the Brumbies starting line-up, with another four on the reserves bench.

“It’s the Drua versus the Wal­labies,” the former New Zealand Under-20 prop said during a press conference yesterday.

“It’s a big challenge and it’s going to be a physical game. It’s going to be a good experience especially when we have a lot of young play­ers.”

As for the front rows, Uluilakepa said they were going to tough it up against the experienced James Slipper and Brumbies captain, Al­lan Alaalatoa.

Slipper has played 144 Super Rug­by matches – 105 for the Queens­land Reds and 39 for the Brumbies. Internationally, he has played 110 Tests for the Wallabies. Lock Leone Rotuisolia said the Brumbies have a good forward pack and they were one of the two top Australian teams in the competition.

“It’s going to be a massive chal­lenge since they (Brumbies) are a hard team to beat,” he said.

Strong running centre Apisalome Vota said they were now in a new environment and a great learning experience.

“We’ll go step by step and for me the pace is very fast compared to what it’s like back home,” he said.

Vota, who is up against strong running Wallabies centre Len Iki­tau, said the thought of his family back home remained a motivating factor.

“I always want to do my fam­ily proud and this pushes me to achieve more,” he added.

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