INDISCIPLINE remains an issue for the Fijian Drua despite their historic win over the Brumbies on Saturday.
While the Drua were convincing in their 42-27 victory, coach Glen Jackson acknowledged that sloppy play and indiscipline were areas that needed work.
“We had a couple of sloppy areas around our discipline of offsides,’’ he said in a post-match press conference.
“Our discipline was not good enough. It was unacceptable because we had two guys in the bin just because of something like an offside. But we need to understand we defended unbelievably well, especially in front of our own tryline, and stopped a lot of the world-class Brumbies players who are good at what they do.
“We can’t continue to play with 14 men.’’
The Drua lost Mesake Doge and Elia Canakaivata to the sin bin, but the side held on against a determined Brumbies outfit.
“These boys essentially played 20 minutes with 14 men, so our defence was unbelievable. We also gave away too many penalties,’’ Jackson said.
“It was about to be our first bonus points win, with most tries. But we let slip away in the 80th minute, which is very disappointing. But we are just stoked because this is our first time beating the Brumbies. These men should be proud of what they have done.”
Drua captain, Frank Lomani, admitted that his side made some crucial mistakes but said they recovered quickly.
“At some point, we felt like we made a lot of mistakes. Then the messages from our coaches saying that we needed to stick to our system, trust it, and react to what’s in front of us. And I think we did very well doing that,” Lomani said.
Saturday’s fixture was the first Drua match at Govind Park in the small cane-farming town of Ba, which is better known for its champion soccer side.
Jackson heaped praise on the Ba Town Council for its work on the new stadium and the fans for travelling out of the way to support the Drua.
“It’s not an easy place to get to. We know the supporters came in early this morning, so to be able to come in and put on a performance like that against the top-level Brumbies was certainly a great occasion to celebrate, especially for our first game here,” he said.
The coach pointed to the strong contribution of Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula, whose performance was key to the win.
“Izzy is growing each time we play. It certainly helps when he has Frank on the inside. Izzy has kicked so well. He can take penalty shots and make them, his 50-22’s and cross-field kicks have been really good too,’’ he said.
“We all know he is a talented player. We just have to give him enough time, and 10 is going to be awesome for him.”
The Drua sit in eighth place in Super Rugby 2026 with two wins and two losses.