FORMER Flying Fijians star Nemani Nadolo reiterated that the Fijian Drua’s honeymoon phase in Super Rugby Pacific is over and it is time to start eyeing finals footy.
Speaking to this newspaper at the 2025 McDonald’s Fiji’s Coral Coast Sevens in Sigatoka, Nadolo projected the Fijian Drua to go one better this year.
“I think the honeymoon period is over.
“I know they have been training very hard. Jackson (Drau head coach Glen Jackson) has been fine-tuning his squad and it will be interesting to see how they go this year,” Nadolo said.
The former Waratahs and Crusaders winger believes this can happen if they can get a few factors in order.
“Look I think when the Drua is on fire, they are unstoppable. I think it’s the mistakes, discipline and penalty, if they can get rid of them, I think they will be a firing team; they will be a team that will go far.
“They are skillful and very fit so I think if they can get their discipline in order and minimize those penalties, they are going to be a very dangerous team whether they are playing here or away,” he added.
He echoed similar sentiments about the Fijian Drua women’s team.
“They (Drua women) had a disappointing season last year so they’ll want to turn things around and try to get back to winning ways.
“Drua has a few games in Suva so hopefully win all our games at home and also try to push for finals footy,” Nadolo said.
Nadolo was excited to see the Drua teams competing at the Coral Coast Sevens.
“They’ll be looking at this as sort of a pre-season hit out for them. The boys can play 7s, it’s not like they are all big boys, a lot of them came from the 7s game and it’s very interesting to see them.
“It’s good to see the Drua competing but you know 7s is a different game and some of these guys do this for a living so it’s a good test for them so it’s good to see the Drua boys play in front of their crowd,” he added.
From his playing days, Nadolo said the gap perceived between the Super Rugby teams and the Fijian Drua has massively closed.
