Waratahs Want to Keep Their Winning Record Against Drua

The NSW Waratahs are coming to Fiji for business, not pleasure.

This was the gist of Waratahs captain Jake Gordon's interview with AAP.

The veteran halfback said after their narrow losses in their last two Shop N Save Super Rugby Pa­cific matches, they need to beat the Drua and put their team back on track.

Gordon said taking on the Drua in Lautoka would be hot and hos­tile, as the defending champion Crusaders discovered in a round­two upset loss.

But the Waratahs are excited about the opportunity to revive their finals hopes in a potentially season-defining two-game block away against the Drua and Aus­tralia's benchmark Brumbies in Canberra.

The Waratahs have won all four of their previous encounters with theDrua.

"It's going to be a hostile crowd. The heat, but both teams are going to feel the heat," Gordon said.

"We've done a really good job against Fiji every time we played them; nullified their threats. We went to set-piece quite a lot. We've had some really good results against them.

"The risk over there is when the ball gets a little bit wetter, we don't get looser with it too.

"We go back to playing an aerial game. Go to set-piece. Trying not to play like the Drua in Fiji is re­ally important for us next week."

Three players of Fijian descent Mark Nawaqanitawase, Langi Gleeson and Vuate Karawalevu are contenders for the Match 23 squad for the Waratahs while Me­sulame Kunavula is ruled out of the season due to a knee injury.

Gordon said their focus needs to be solely on winning football games.

"We've got a group that's really tight. We fight hard," he said.

"If we focus on improving each week, we're going to be a tough team to beat. We are such a differ­ent team to what we were last year. We were getting pumped at points, not even in games. We're a differ­ent team at the moment. We just need to be a little bit sharper, espe­cially against a good team."

The match kicks-off at 1.05pm while the Super W (women's) clash between the Drua and Wara­tahs will be at 3.35pm.

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