A LACKLUSTER performance by the Fijian Drua led to their 21-6 loss to the Queensland Reds in Lautoka.
The Reds were focused on getting their first win in Fiji, and Filipo Daugunu’s big hit on Frank Lomani straight from the kick-off set the tone for how they planned to finally conquer the Drua on home soil.
Drua head coach Glen Jackson did not hesitate to share his disappointment.
“Look, there’s not a lot of positives coming out of that. Our lineout did work as well as we would like. Our handling was not good enough. And when we got opportunities to play, we kicked the ball away,” he said.
“We told the boys that this is the third game in a row for a lot of them. We had an opportunity to create history, and we didn’t do it.”
The Reds played with 14 men at one stage of the game, but the Drua attack was riddled with knock-ons for them to fully capitalize on the opportunities.
“We didn’t score any tries. We had about 4 opportunities in the first half, but we didn’t score. There was no panic at halftime. I thought we could come back. They were under a warning. We had one of them in the sin bin. Unfortunately, we just didn’t play like we have been playing”, said Jackson.
The weather was gloomy, and the ground was wet from a slight drizzle over Churchill Park before the game. Yet the heat and humidity remained high for the game to include water break stoppages every 20 minutes.
But Jackson was distressed as he lingered more on why he thought his players were making silly knock-ons that might have cost them the game.
“There’s a bit of fatigue from the players, I’m not sure. We didn’t hang on to the ball. We created the opportunities to score tries, but to walk away in front of our home fans without a try scored is obviously disappointing for everyone”, said Jackson.
When they had possession, the Queensland Reds were unafraid to move the ball around the soggy pitch in their efforts to disarray the Drua. Again, Daugunu was a handful for the Drua defenders.
“The Reds came here with a good game plan. Defensively, I think we put enough good shots on them and turned the ball over. Elia Canakaivata played well for the full 80 minutes.”
“But again, to walk away with three tries to none is not good enough for the people of Fiji, and we take this loss on the chin”, said Jackson.
Moving forward, Jackson said the side had two important matches against the Blues and Crusaders.
“We need to stop making mistakes and really make use of the opportunities. So that’s the balance that we need to get right.”
Captain Frank Lomani remained positive despite the disheartening loss.
“Our physicality is still there. We want to kill teams. We just have to make sure when we get the ball, we make use of it, instead of just kicking the ball away.”
“We have a bigger challenge. We have not won any of our away games. We want to go there and win games.”
“But to win games, it takes prep, and to make sure we train well. That is our aim”, said Lomani.
Timestamp for points
12 minutes – Penalty Goal, Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula.
22 minutes – Try to the Reds, Kalani Thomas. Conversion successful.
29 minutes – Penalty Goal, Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula.
Halftime score: Reds 7 – 6 Drua.
43 minutes – Yellow card to the Reds full back Jock Campbell
54 minutes Try to the Reds. Harry McLaughlin-Phillips. Conversion Successful.
62 minutes – Try to the Reds. Richie Asiata. Conversion Successful.
Full-time score: Reds 21 – 6.
*All Reds conversions were kicked by Harry McLaughlin-Phillips.