The Fijian Drua yesterday made history by beating the Queensland Reds 34-17 in Suva to qualify for the quarter-finals of Super Rugby Pacific for the first time.
The match was the first between the Drua and the Reds in Fiji, harking back to the days of the Super 6 tournament when Queensland state teams regularly played the Fiji national team.
Backed by a raucous home crowd, the Drua broke out of a 17-17 stalemate at halftime to score three second-half tries while holding the Reds scoreless after the break. When the final whistle sounded, Drua fans shook the National Stadium as they danced to Tina Turner’s Simply the Best.
Photo: AFP
“You can see how happy we are now,” Drua captain Meli Derenalagi said. “Hats off to the soldiers [players] behind me for doing their duty today. First of all a big bula vaka levu [many thanks] to our fans who came out in numbers today, just to support their home team.”
There were no signs in an even first half that the Drua would so thoroughly dominate the second. They outplayed the Reds at set pieces and buckled the defense with constant, strong ball-running so that the visitors could not easily escape their own half.
The win was triumphantly sealed by a try to star backrower Joe Tamani, who dashed 50m to finish a breakout as the crowd roared its approval.
“Obviously it was a real tough second half,” Reds captain Tate McDermott said. “We competed in the first half, but just weren’t in it in the second half.”
The Drua scored the first try of the match after only four minutes when Selestino Ravataumada charged down a clearing kick by Reds winger Filipo Daugunu, and collected the bounce to score.
The Reds responded immediately with a try to Ryan Smith, but the Drua went ahead again with a try to Kelaveti Ravouvou.
Fraser McReight scored for the Reds, who edged further ahead with an O’Connor penalty. The Drua leveled the score at halftime with a try to Vilive Miramira.
The second half belonged to the Drua, who added tries to Misake Doge and Tevita Ikanivere as the Reds lost discipline and McReight went to the sin bin. Tamani’s try was a glorious finale.
The Drua win moved them up to seventh, but a Western Force win over the Waikato Chiefs — the game was to finish after press time last night — would have put the Fijian side eighth.
The Reds were left waiting on the result of the Chiefs-Force game to learn whether they would play in the quarters.
The Otago Highlanders were pushed out of eighth place after they missed their chance to seal a post-season berth in a 19-6 loss to the Auckland Blues on Friday.
In other games yesterday, the Wellington Hurricanes defeated the Canterbury Crusaders 27-26, the ACT Brumbies downed the Melbourne Rebels 33-17 and Moana Pasifika won their first game of the season, beating the NSW Waratahs 33-24.
Additional reporting by staff writer
LEGAL ACTION: The Suns said they were among the first teams approved for this season, but they had been asked to meet a stricter financial criterion afterward The Taichung Suns will not play in the T1 League’s 2023-2024 season after repeatedly failing to meet criteria regarding team finances, the professional basketball league said in a statement on Friday. The T1 League said that following the decision on the Suns, made at the league’s 22nd executive council meeting, it would postpone a planned news conference on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming season. A source familiar with the league’s operations told reporters that the Suns had been asked at two previous meetings of the T1 League’s executive council to provide evidence proving the franchise had the requisite finances. The announcement of the
‘NOTHING HAS CHANGED’: Jenni Hermoso said that the striking players had been ‘caught by surprise’ by the call-ups, saying it was a strategy to intimidate them Striking Spanish internationals called up to the women’s team on Monday reiterated their desire not to form part of the squad in a new blow for the shaken the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). However, they were told by the government early yesterday that those who did not attend the team’s camps when called up would have to be punished. Spanish National Sports Council president Victor Francos said he would have to apply the country’s sports law. “If they don’t turn up, the government would have to apply the law, which is a pity for me, but the law is the
Hong Kong is one of the smaller Asian Games teams by population, but when it comes to fencing the territory is a regional heavyweight with ambitious medal hopes. Edgar Cheung won gold at the Tokyo Games two years ago — Hong Kong’s first Olympic fencing title and first Olympic gold in any sport in 25 years. It turned Cheung into a celebrity overnight and prompted parents across the territory to rush and sign their children up for fencing classes. Cheung’s historic win in the foil competition was a much-needed dose of good news for a territory mired in social unrest and COVID-19 gloom
CHALK AND CHEESE: South Africa and England won in contrasting styles, the Springboks thrashing Romania and the English grinding out an ugly win Fiji on Sunday produced the upset the Rugby World Cup needed, beating Australia to end almost seven decades of rugby pain at their hands, while 2019 finalists South Africa and England made it two wins from two. The Fiji players described as “jackals” by their impressive coach Simon Raiwalui outmuscled the Wallabies to deservedly prevail 22-15 in a thrilling match that blows open Pool C. It was the first time Fiji had ever beaten Australia at a World Cup. Defending champions South Africa and England won in contrasting styles, the Springboks thrashing Romania 76-0 in Pool B, while the English ground out a