Opportunities For Improvement

Our Super Rugby Pacific clash against the Brumb­ies, exposed three areas the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua side must work hard on.

Not wasting a minute the Drua management had acted swiftly by signing up Frank Lomani from the Northampton Saints on Monday.

In actual fact, the Flying Fijians halfback was considered for the Drua after his contract with the Melbourne Rebels expired last year.

The delay by relevant authori­ties in processing and confirming the Drua’s Super Rugby spot, saw Lomani signing up with the Saints.

He was among a handful of ex­perienced Fijian players, who had wanted to play for the Drua but instead took up overseas offers as they need to earn an income to support their families.

With 25 Super Rugby games un­der his belt, Lomani is the much-needed catalyst captain Nemani Nagusa and veteran prop Manasa Saulo need to steer the Drua on the right track by taking care of these areas.

ORGANISATION

Most times, our backline were disorganised and this was due to our players’ lack of experience and game time.

There was no direction while on attack and that is why we’ve scored only once from the two matches played.

Another is our defense quickly losing its shape when pressured by the opposition. This resulted in our players’ taking wrong options, which haunted us on the scoring sheet.

So far we’ve conceeded 12 tries.

With Lomani back, he will be our General as he provides that vital link between the backs and the for­wards.

He is the man who will direct the way we play and how we hold back the opposition back from scoring tries.

POSSESSION

Drua head coach Mick Byrne said it right, that we’ve got to keep the ball first before we think about off-loading.

We’ve been losing possessions through 50-50 passes or trying to offload the ball when under heavy traffic.

At this level, we’ve got to be smart and realise the importance of keeping the ball.

Yes, there’ll be times when we are tempted to throw an offload and we take the risk of doing it.

However, we’ve got to remember that we cannot do it all the time as we’re playing against teams that are studying in detail our every move.

LEADERSHIP

Lomani’s inclusion is an added boost to the leadership unit in the squad. Nagusa and Saulo have done well in holding the fort.

Also included are Baden Kerr and Teti Tela

And from the past two matches, there are players who have showed that they also have what it takes to be a leader.

The likes of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games gold medallist Meli Der­enalagi, Kalione Nasoko, Simione Kuruvoli, prop Samuela Tawake and lock Leone Rotuisolia.

Put them together and we’ve a sound leadership unit that can propel us forward.

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