A top two finish for the Rooster Chicken Fijian Drua after its final regular Super W round will be another stepping stone for the women’s game in the country.
Today’s game against the Rebels in Melbourne holds the key to the Drua’s aspirations of a top two finish and a historic home semi-final.
However, with that still in the air, Fijian Drua chief executive Mark Evans said its important to recognise the vast improvement of the team especially with the inclusion of some players who were not part of their campaign in the past two years.
“If you watch the four games played to date, I think you can see a consistent improvement. It’s a relatively new team compared to last year, there are a lot of changes with new players that haven’t won the championship and i have been very impressed,” Evans said.
Comparing their progress to last year, the current squad is in a better position on the ladder so far.
“I thought we played well in the wet against the Western Force and against the Brumbies.
Having been taught a lesson by the Waratahs, but then it happened last year too, we scraped into the playoffs last year. It would be lovely to get a home draw for the fans and if we do come into the top two, that will be another stepping stone.”
Evans also shed light on how much growth the franchise has seen since the inclusion of the women’s team.
“We’ve made better use of the facilities because more people are using it, it has been much easier to operate and I think we have been given the opportunity to grow. The women’s team coming on board we’ve got more players knocking about, more staff, more partners, sponsors, and more media coverage.
“On the whole, it’s been pretty good, I do think there’s still a lot of upsides left in the women’s (game) in Fiji.
“I’ve done a bit of reading and it’s very recent and they’ve come a long way in a short period of time. Fiji’s world ranking is not brilliant in the women’s game, give it two to three years and just like the men as the Drua get better, the national team will get better,” he added.
