Kerr Still On

Lone non-Fijian connection player in the Swire Ship­ping Fijian Drua side, fly half Baden Kerr is recovering, says Head of Commercial and Market­ing Shane Hussein.

Kerr was injured when Queens­land Reds beat the Fijian Drua 33-28 in a thrilling Super Rugby Pacific contest at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane last month.

Despite Drua head coach Mick Byrne’s finding holes in the Reds’ defence, poor handling and ill- dis­cipline proved costly for the Fijians during that match, Kerr had played fullback.

Reds had to vigorously fend off a stunning second half fight from the Fijian Drua as the two teams traded three tries a piece in a thrilling fi­nal 33 minutes.

Kerr did not play the full game be­cause he was injured in the second half of that Round Four match.

“He’s in camp, he was injured a few weeks ago against the Reds if you recall,” Hussein said yesterday.

“He had been in recovery and training,” he said.

The former Blues playmaker had hung his boots playing Super Rug­by for eight years, but was offered a place in the Drua side last year.

Byrne, the former All Blacks and Wallabies assistant coach who had worked with Kerr with the Blues gave the experienced pivot an ‘SOS’ call to fill in a gap in the new fran­chise squad.

Kerr’s experience has been handy for the newcomers in the revamped Super Rugby Pacific.

Meanwhile, the Fijian Drua are building up to their only home game this season.

There have been messages posted on social media from players invit­ing Fijians to buy tickets to their first historic match against High­landers at Suva’s ANZ Stadium next Saturday (April 30), which kicks off at 4.45pm.

Vilive Miramira and Vinaya Ha­bosi are the first to invite Fijians to buy their tickets from all Jack’s of Fiji stores, Post Fiji outlets in the country and the Fiji Sports Council office to join them in Round 11 of the 2022 Super Rugby.

Injury Update

Majority of the Drua players are fit to be selected for the team to face the Blues on Saturday at the AMMI Stadium, Melbourne.

Byrne, on Zoom yesterday, dis­closed that about three players were recovering from injuries.

“Leone Rotuisolia is still coming back and Baden Kerr, while Selesi­tino Ravutaumada is still working on his ankle injury,” he said.

“Selection is open for the rest of them.”

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