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Drua CEO Mark Evans outlines plans to avoid Fijian exodus abroad
The Fijian Drua head into this year’s Super Rugby Pacific competition knowing they could imminently lose head coach Mick Byrne if he is chosen to replace Simon Raiwalui at the helm of the Flying Fijians.
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The potential loss of Byrne comes as a tropical depression is bringing flooding to parts of the island nation, but Drua chief executive Mark Evans is remaining commendably calm in the face of the possible winds of change.
Evans insists that if Byrne does get chosen to replace Raiwalui, it will not have an immediate impact as the Flying Fijians do not return to international action until later in the year – after the Super Rugby Pacific competition has been completed.
Byrne is understood to be on a two-man shortlist along with interim head coach Senirusi Seruvakula, with the Fiji Rugby Union expected to announce their chosen man shortly.
It has been a long process but Evans and the Drua franchise have been fully aware of the possible ramifications of Byrne’s departure and plans are in place to minimise any possible disruption.
Evans is 18 months into his CEO role having signed a three-year contract with the Drua, overseeing them reach the play-offs last season where they lost to the Crusaders, the eventual champions.
With the franchise supplying the majority of the Flying Fijians Rugby World Cup squad last year, expectations for this campaign are higher than ever in the rugby-mad islands.
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The Drua start their Super Rugby campaign against the Blues in Whangarei on Saturday, then meet Moana Pasifika in Melbourne before hosting their first home game of the season against the Crusaders at Churchill Park, Lautoka. So, if Byrne is appointed Fiji’s new head coach, what happens to the Drua?
“He wouldn’t go right away because Fiji don’t play for some time,” Evans said. “I’m not involved at all, but if he gets the job he won’t suddenly walk out of the door.
“It will be a lot more managed than that and I don’t believe the situation has had any effect on our preparations at all. It has been a long process but I haven’t seen any evidence internally that it has impacted on us at all. We have been kept in the loop.
“I don’t like the hypothetical and so I am not going to comment on what may happen. Mick is a very experienced coach and I don’t think it has affected our build-up.
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“The international boys came back after the World Cup in December and the 12 development players below the 37-strong squad are also involved in training. The women joined in January and they are under the same umbrella and are managed by us, and some players and staff are on dual contracts with the Fiji Rugby Union.
“I believe things are more aligned and having the Drua men’s and women’s franchises playing on the islands and training makes a big difference and helps the national programmes.
“We have just released our players to the Fiji U20s and it is all negotiated and it is never really an issue. There is still a long to go and people say it is more coherent.”
After reaching the play-offs last season, Evans knows rugby fans on the islands will be expecting more success. Reflecting on the strides already made on and off the pitch, he said: “Off the field – when I arrived – we weren’t doing as well as I had been led to believe. Now, we are probably a little bit ahead of where I thought we would be and on the pitch, we won two games in my first season.
“In my head, I said winning four games last season would be good and we won six. This year, in my head, I have a number and you just want to keep getting better and last year people were very kind and we had a lot of good coverage.
“But let’s not forget that we won three games with the last kick. Two of them were ours and one was Moana’s and they missed it. Sometimes you just have to be realistic but if we win two or three games we will be desperately disappointed.
“We have our internal targets but the metrics are more complicated than that. We have a deeper squad because of the good youngsters that are coming through.”
After injuring himself just before the World Cup kicked off and requiring a knee reconstruction, impressive 24-year-old Drua out-half Caleb Muntz is unlikely to play any part in this year’s competition, although there is an outside chance of the No10 appearing if the team make the knockout stages again.
However, given Muntz’s long-term contract with the Drua, there is no appetite to rush him back into action despite his hard work to try and make it back sooner than expected.
Evans is working hard to ensure that young talent remain with the franchise rather than heading overseas and the Drua will shortly announce a new plan to hold onto the best youngsters in the islands by launching an academy that will take players from the age of 16.
That is the age that many are cherry-picked by talent scouts from France, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, with Evans adding: “When the school competitions are taking place you can barely move at the airport for talent scouts.
“With the FRU we have made some real strides with the U20s and we are going to launch a 16-18 academy in the next few months at the Drua which will attempt to reduce the number of players who leave very early in their careers.
“We won’t stop that completely but we can reduce the volume by doing a few simple things and that will be another piece (in the jigsaw). It will be designed so that a player could join the Drua at 16 and stay until say 26-27 when they may want to go abroad.
“We know some of our highest profile players will at some point go to France or Japan, but what we don’t want is them going at 17. We want them to have a good grounding here and then want them to come back in their 30s.
“Now the Drua is here I believe those players in their 30s will come back to continue playing rather than retiring, but that will take a couple of years.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Let’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
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