THE Swire Shipping Fijian Drua are enthusiastic about meeting the Blues this Friday in round 13 of the Super Rugby Pacific competition, head coach Glen Jackson has stated.
Jackson shared these sentiments after the Drua won 36-33 over the Queensland Reds in Suva last Saturday.
“It’s good to be home. We now don’t have to worry about getting on the road again and working out what we do Monday, Tuesday, travel Thursday so we’re looking forward to having the Blues here,” Jackson told the media.
The Drua have a six-day window to prepare themselves for the showdown and he added the players would be looked after to ensure they were in top shape.
It was a redeeming win for the Drua as they amplified their efforts in the dying seconds of the match to allow fly-half Isikeli Rabitu to power through the Reds’ defence to score the winning try.
As the Drua were trailing behind the Reds at halftime with a 15-19 deficit, the coach acknowledged the strength of the men on the bench.
“We knew we had a good bench, six forwards and I thought those boys came on and gave us a very good input,” he explained.
“I thought our starting team did a really good job.”
As the Drua were aiming for a win and nothing else, coach Jackson explained how the Reds aimed to avoid that.
“For a team like the Reds, they are always going to come back in; this is Super Rugby.”
“We say we let them back in, we don’t try and let them back in. They are a quality team that comes back in.”
Meanwhile, the Blues defeated the Western Force 40-19 at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand last Friday.
The Drua will face the Blues at 7.05pm on Friday at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva.
