IT was a tough contest as the Fijian Drua hosted the ACT Brumbies at the Four R in Ba. In the end the Drua won 42 – 20 to claim their second win for the season.
A good lineout throws from starting hooker Keleni Marawa set the tone for what became a good outing for the Fijian women. They scored a try just three minutes into the game.
Siokapesi Palu-Sekona was the key player for the Brumbies. She was powerful with her carries to dictate the pace of the game for the visitors.
Josivini Naihamu played well at inside centre. Even though she was sent off for a yellow card, she still combined really well with outside centre Merewairita Naivoha and scored a try each in the first half.
Making her return to play this week, Sulita Waisega was superb at number eight.
The heat regulation protocol was implemented to cater for the hot weather in Ba.
Litiana Vueti did not play well for the Drua today. She made a couple of costly handling errors and missed four conversions which definitely could have made a huge difference to the scoreline.
The scoreboard was locked in at 20 – 20 at half-time.
Keleni Marawa continued to throw well in the lineouts for the Drua before she was replaced by Bitila Tawake.
Salaseini Railumu was relentless in the openside flanker jersey. She covered the field well and her support play was incredible.
Coach Mike Legge made a timely change to bring Michaell’e Stolz to replace Vueti. Stolz showed tremendous potential. She was tireless in defence and her territorial kicking was on point.
Apart from the good lineouts, one of the biggest positive take aways from the Drua in this game is that the knock-ons were very rare this week. This enabled them to run freely and utilize the space out wide more with good support play.
The Drua scored four more tries in the second half with Naihamu finishing the try-scoring spree with a great intercept try and sealed the win 42 – 20.
