SWIRE Shipping Fijian Drua head coach Glen Jackson has affirmed how high the stakes have become in the Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific competition.
This, after the Drua overcame the Hurricanes and won 25-20 in their round three clash at Churchill Park in Lautoka last Saturday.
Jackson reflected on how other teams in the competition were fielding winning results of their own in the aim of breaking into the top six.
“This competition is ridiculously hard,” Jackson told reporters in Lautoka after the match.
“As you saw last night (Friday), the (Western) Force have got to win, the (Queensland) Reds have got to win.
“Now everyone’s scraping for the top six. As Frank (Lomani) said, we shut out the noise around us.”
Jackson was referring to the team’s co-captain comments on how the team did not listen to outside noise of criticism levelled at them prior to the Hurricanes match.
“We don’t really care what people say,” Lomani said.
“Those are just outside noise; they just say stuff because they care about this team and what happens in this team.”
And Jackson emphasised how the aim of making the nation proud and forming an image of formidable strength in the players was of the essence.
“We’re trying to make the nation proud, we’re trying to show these young men how good they are,” he stressed.
“Unfortunately, sometimes we have to try and shut out the noise because it’s round two and there’s already a lot of doubt.”
He was referring to their 13-36 loss to the NSW Waratahs on Friday, February 21 at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia.
“I think what the boys showed today (Saturday) is what it means to put on the (Fijian) Drua jersey.”
And the squad will feature in those jerseys once more in round five next Saturday at the 4R Stadium, Govind Park in Ba at 3.35pm.
