Reds Pumped Up For Fijiana In Super W Showdown

Queensland Reds women’s captain, Annabelle Codey, said they are pumped up to take on the Fijiana Drua in their Super W clash on Saturday.

"We’ve taken our learnings from our pre-season clash,” Codey said.

“Now we are pumped up to give our second crack in front of our fans at the Suncorp Stadium.” Codey’s Reds lost to the Drua 34- 20 in their pre-season clash.

In the opening round of the Super W, the Reds walloped Western Force 43-7 at the HBF Park in Perth while the Drua thrashed Melbourne Rebels 66-5.

Drua captain Bitilia Tawake told Radio New Zealand, they are goingto play open rugby against the Reds.

“That (free-flowing style) is somethingmnthat Fijian rugby is madebof,” she said.

“For us it was about getting thatbnervous feeling out (at the start) of the game and then we were so excited.”

The Rebels never stopped tackling though and eventually found points, keeping the ball alive before Nawel Remini beat a number of tackles to score with three minutes to play.

“What can I say I’ve never played 80 minutes of (rugby) sevens before,” Rebels captain Mel Kawa said.

“They played fast-paced, up-temp on footy; I thought if we could hold them up for the first 15 minutes, but they kept coming."

“But we didn’t give up, even though we were gassed.”

The Drua were only admitted into the competition last month.

But their immediate dominance has sent a message around the competition.

The new side have relocated from Fiji to the Gold Coast to be part of the six-team league, with the country’s top talent vying for spots in the national team for this year’s World Cup.

The match kicks off at 6.15pm.

SUPER W 2022

ROUND 1 RESULTS

-  Force 7-43 Reds,

- Rebels 5-66 Drua,

- Brumbies 17-31 Waratahs.

ROUND 2 FIXTURES

-  Friday: 6.15pm Rebels v Brumbies at AAMI Park, Melbourne

- Saturday: 6.15pm Reds v Drua at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

-  Sunday: 5.15pm Waratahs v Force at Leichhardt Oval, Sydney.

Feedback: leonec@fijisun.com.fj