A FEROCIOUS Fijian Drua women side continued their winning streak, taking down the Queensland Reds 50 – 17 in front of a small but vocal crowd at the Ballymore stadium.
Using their running game to great effect, the Drua could have scored more tries if their offloading had been more effective.
Fly-half Varanisese Qoro was brilliant in dictating the game with a series of quality fix and passes in the fringes of the rucks.
In her second appearance this season, Sulita Waisega was relentless with her carries. She made a number of significant line-breaks to ensure the Drua had the attacking momentum.
Josivini Naihamu continued to dominate in the line-breaks and the reds could not withstand her solid crashes up the middle.
Tight head prop Evania Karpani was the biggest threat from the Reds and the Drua effectively nullified the Wallaroos star forward, reducing the home side’s attacking opportunities.
Keleni Marawa started at hooker ahead of Bitila Tawake and hit 100 per cent accuracy with her lineout throws. The lineouts suffered immediately when Tawake replaced Marawa.
In the lineouts, Nunia Daunimola and Carletta Yee were persistent in the aerial battle, contesting possession at every throw.
But even with some very good lineout wins, the Drua did not use the rolling maul in this game and chose to follow their free running game plan.
The scrums were evenly matched. Tight head prop Tiana Robanakadavu scrummed well and was also powerful with her carries.
After scoring a number of good tries, the Drua led 33 – 5 at halftime.
Defensively the Drua did great with few missed tackles. The whole team gave so much effort in putting in good tackles. At some point in the game, the Queensland Reds were reluctant to run it straight due to the ferocity of the Drua defence.
To help their attack, the Reds subbed in New Zealand Black Ferns Tanya Kalounivale but the Drua forward pack came together to tackle the powerful tight head prop.
Captain Kolora Lomani led the team well. The half-back was instrumental to set the pace of the game early on. Lomani maintained her good performance even though she was later moved to the wings when Buna was subbed off.
Fiji Sevens star Verenaisi Ditavutu also contributed immensely to the Drua’s success in this game. She was very physical in attack and just too fast for the Reds defenders.
In the end the Drua displayed good team work in both defense and attack to run in a total of seven tries in this game.
The Drua lead the overall points table and are likely they will get a home semi-final.
