THE Swire Shipping Fijian Drua have wasted no time dwelling on last week’s defeat, responding strongly in training as preparations intensify for their clash with the NSW Waratahs tomorrow night at Allianz Stadium.
Head coach Glen Jackson said the playing group quickly shifted their mindset following the loss, determined to learn and move forward with a short turnaround between matches.
“Very quickly. You know, rightly so. There was a lot of disappointment within the playing group, but rugby, you’ve got to get over that very quickly.
“So again, with the six-day turnaround, which I know Tana Umaga and myself had a good chat after the game, it’s been well looked after that by travelling on a six-day turnaround makes it an interesting setup for both of us. But when you have a six-day turnaround, you’ve just got to get into it. So it was certainly important that as a coaching group that we made sure the boys turned up, understood where we’re at and just get on with it and get into this week’s game.
“And there’s no time to lose to worry about what happened last week around moping. There’s got to be some learnings out of it, but we’ve got to put that into the game this week.”
Jackson said the players have responded positively despite the disappointment of the defeat to Moana Pasifika.
“They’ve responded well. we have a six-day turnaround. Looking forward to playing the Waratahs, but yeah, last week was disappointing.
“We won three quarters and failed big time in the first quarter. So I think Havili did a great job with the win, three 50-22s behind us, which sort of put us on the back foot. So 21-0 down after 15 minutes.
“And then like i said, we finished strong and won the last three quarters. But at the end of the day, you don’t win a game doing that. Yeah, and so there were plenty of positives, so plenty to build on for the Waratahs.”
With the Waratahs sitting high on the competition standings, Jackson said preparation this week has centred on physicality and handling the threat posed by their attacking strength.
“Yeah, we’ve just got to front up the forward pack. They’ve got an amazing backline, world-class backline in terms of signings and wallabies and everything like that, and it’s going to be one of the forward pack and our boys are fired up for it.
“There’s plenty of history around what the Waratahs have said and done with us, and we’re taking that on board and we’re looking forward to fronting up and winning that battle.”
He also noted tactical adjustments to counter changes in the Waratahs’ style of play.
With lessons absorbed and preparations sharpened, the Drua now turn their full attention to delivering a complete performance in Sydney at 8:35pm tomorrow.
