SWIRE Shipping Fijian Drua head coach Glen Jackson has made several key changes to his lineup ahead of their clash against the Auckland Blues in Round 7 of the Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific clash tomorrow.
Among the changes, Epeli Momo returns from injury to take up the No.14 wing position, while Iosefo Namoce starts at No 12 and Vereimi Vakatawa is named on the bench.
Jackson said there will be some new faces in the squad as they look to adjust their approach this week.
“So, we want to go back to the way we want to play and let’s run the Blues around and have a good crack at them. So, yeah, a few changes. Epeli Momo has come back in from his hamstring.
“Iosefo, he’s a young man with a big future, big body. And then just for some experience, obviously with Vereimi coming off the bench, it’s going to be great for him as well.”
On whether their approach changes on the road, Jackson said preparation remains the same.
“It’s just rugby. So, whether it’s home or away, we’ve got to prepare. The boys have been preparing well. As we know, we seem to go well against the Brumbies and Hurricanes, two of the best teams.
“And then, like I said, we’re a game of lost opportunities against the Reds just puts the motivation back on this team to perform. We’ve got a six-day turnaround after the blues, so we’ll be staying in New Zealand, which is something we haven’t done before as well.So it’s just trying to do things a little bit different around what we do to get this campaign back on track.”
He acknowledged the challenge posed by the Blues heading into the match.
“They will be a good team. Well coached, they know how to play against us. They’ve done it very well every time. Just big, competitive bodies that one-off sort of runners.
“So, you know, our motivation to our boys is let’s have a crack, you know, let’s get the ball moving and understand.”
The match will also be played for the Joeli Vidiri Memorial Trophy, which Jackson believes adds extra motivation.
“It’s a very important man of Fiji rugby and New Zealand rugby and we talked about it yesterday. I think it’s a massive motivation and I’ll be disappointed if our boys don’t get motivated by such a great man and an opportunity to play for a trophy. I think it’s not often you get to play for silverware and this is a huge motivational fact and it’s great that both the Blues and the Drua have been able to come up with something like that and now we’re excited,” Jackson added.
