McKellar plots Drua’s downfall

There is no other way for the NSW Waratahs but to beat the Fijian Drua tomorrow to keep their hopes for a Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific play-offs alive.

Waratahs head coach Dan McKel-lar has named three playmakers in his Match 23 squad.

And the man who has been tasked to kick-start Waratahs campaign to upset the Drua in Suva is first five-eighth Jack Bower while Lawson Creighton has been moved to second five-eighth with Jack Debreczeni to start from the bench.

“It’ll come down to performance and it’s a great opportunity for a number of boys,” McKellar told rugby.com.au.

“It always comes down to performance. There’s no doubt. So, for some of them, they had to be patient to wait for the opportunity to play.”

Bowen is among eight new starters as McKellar felt compelled to “freshen the side up” after last week’s dispiriting 31-26 loss to the Highlanders in Dunedin. Debreczeni and exciting young goalkicking winger Sid Harvey were the two biggest casualties, while half-back Jake Gordon was rested and winger Andrew Kellaway (concussion), back-rower Pete Samu (knee) and hookers Ethan Dobbins (foot) and Folau Faingaa (knee) were ruled out with injury.

Asked if Bowen had a future at the Waratahs, McKellar said: “They’re all things to be discussed in the future.

“He’s got an opportunity now over the next couple of weeks to push his claim and they’re discus-sions that are ongoing in the background.

“He’s a really good young rugby player who needs more rugby. Jack just needs to play 80 minutes at the highest level that he possibly can and learn his craft skill-set wise, kicking game, catch pass, vision, seeing the picture.

“His game management is something that we’ve worked hard on him with since we’ve been in the building.”

Three defeats in a row have left the Tahs needing to post a rare win in Suva and also likely needing to beat the ACT Brumbies at home and the Western Force in Perth in their last three regular-season games to make the finals.

McKellar never expected his Wallabies laded line-up to miss the finals last year, in his first season in charge, let alone again in 2026.

“It’s not about making up the numbers, that’s for sure,” he said.

“I knew it was going to take time, and we needed to be patient but, I’m not going to lie, it’s been frustrating. We’re just chasing a consistent 80-minute performance. Not 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there.”