Drua’s Backline Trio Out Of Rebels Clash

Three Swire Shipping Fijian Drua players will miss the trial match against the Mel­bourne Rebels on Thursday due to injuries.

Backline players Kalione Nasoko, Tuidraki Samusamuvodre and Ki­tione Taliga were injured during the Drua’s internal trial at Ballina, New South Wales, last Sunday.

This was revealed by Drua head coach, Mick Byrne, in a virtual press conference for the Super Rug­by Pacific launch yesterday.

The Drua will be hosted by the Rebels for their pre-season match before their Super Rugby Pacific debut against the Waratahs on February 18.

“Unfortunately Kali (Nasoko) got injured over the weekend, he is seeing a specialist.

“The update at the mo­ment is that his knee does not look too good but we are not accurate on the in­formation we have there,” Bryne said.

“Tui (Samusamuvodre) injured his shoulder over the weekend so he is going be out for six to eight weeks. Pasi (Kali­opasi Uluilakepa) is back training so he is back on the field. Kitione Taliga, Kali Nasoko and Tui prob­ably the three players that will be missing on Thursday.

“There is a lot of resilience in this group. Their willingness to learn, it’s a battle for them. For some this is probably harder than they have trained before in their lives, and they just get up and keep going.”

The trial match will be broken into three 30-minute sessions, as both club’s look to put the finishing touches of their preparations for the opening round of Super Rugby Pacific competition.

“The team has been improving since we got together in Novem­ber,” Byrne said.

“It will really be good for us to im­plement some of the things we were trying to do and the game plan we are looking for.

“To go out in our trial games, we got some good things done at the end of the game, some of the things we worked on starting to become evident and this week we looking forward to step up against our op­position. We are looking forward to play against the Rebels.

When asked about their first game against the Waratahs, Drua captain Nemani Nagusa said: “First game against the Waratahs, for us we just focus on the game plan that the coaches have set in place.

“This will be the chance to ex­press ourselves, to show the Fijian flair but then keeping in mind the structure the coaches want and the game plan we have against the Waratahs.”

Feedback: sereana.salalo@fijisun.com.fj