Fijian Drua vs Waratahs: Drua still in trouble, a win for James O’Connor

The Fijian Drua have kept their slim finals hopes alive with a hard-fought 28-14 win over the NSW Waratahs in Lautoka on Saturday afternoon. With their season hanging in the balance, the Drua managed to hang on against a valiant Tahs outfit who continue to struggle away from home.

Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula put the Drua into a strong position with a series of penalty goals during the first half, with the hosts racing out to a 21-7 lead just after the break, courtesy of yet another shot at goal from the young fly-half.

Julian Heaven gave the Tahs a chance with a try midway through the second term, but the Tahs didn’t score again before the 57^th minute mark. The Drua’s defence stood tall, with time simply running out for Dan McKellar’s Waratahs.

Here are three takeaways.

Are the Waratahs a pretender or contender? The answer is simple

The Waratahs would win Super Rugby if every match were held at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium. With an unbeaten record from five matches at home, including a shock win over the Chiefs, there’s a lot to like about Dan McKellar’s team.

Injuries have been a nuisance with Wallabies Jake Gordon, David Porecki and Max Jorgensen all currently unavailable, yet the Tahs have soldiered on. Halfback Teddy Wilson has been one of the competition’s breakout stars, and Lawson Creighton has also impressed.

But, to quote Rocky Balboa, “It’s not all sunshine and rainbows.” For the Tahs, their record away from home has been awful – they hadn’t won a match on enemy territory. The Reds, Hurricanes and Moana Pasifika have all beaten them, and the Drua have just done the very same.

“This is an important game for us leading into the bye week… It’s an opportunity for us to win away from home,” coach Dan McKellar said this week. “The reality is, we haven’t been good enough away from home. This is a huge opportunity for us.”

After racing out to a 13-nil lead after 23 minutes, the Drua looked a class above. Langi Gleeson hit back for the Tahs soon after, but another Drua try to winger Ponipate Loganimasi saw the hosts take a commanding 14-point lead into the break.

Replacement hooker Julian Heaven scored a much-needed try for the Waratahs in the 56^th minute, and the match’s momentum swung in the visitors’ favour from there. Captain Hugh Sinclair came very close to scoring with 15 left but was bundled into touch.

Yet, the Waratahs remained the more threatening of the two sides.

While the Drua began to fatigue in the heat, the Tahs continued to give it their all but the scores didn’t change. It ended up with another loss on the road for the Waratahs, which unfortunately for them suggests they are title pretenders rather than genuine contenders.

Positive step forward but the Drua are still in trouble

After nine rounds, the Fijian Drua looked far more likely than any other team to finish last on the ladder. With the Drua sitting eight points behind second-last Moana Pasifika on the standings, all four southern hemisphere writers at RugbyPass thought the same thing.

On Friday, an article went live on site, where all four scribes were asked to predict the team that would win the competition and the unfortunate recipients of the wooden spoon. It was unanimous, with the quartet agreeing the Drua were in trouble.

However, that doesn’t mean Saturday’s win was a complete surprise.

Tahs coach Dan McKellar warned the Drua “are a completely different team” on home soil, and that proved to be the case on Saturday afternoon. Motikai Murray and Olympic silver medallist Ponipate Loganimasi scored first-half tries as the Fijians took control.

First five-eighth Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula was also brilliant, both in general play and off the goal-kicking tee, with the forwards providing a solid foundation up-front and the backs reaping the rewards with dangerous play out-wide.

This was more like the Drua from seasons past.

While they’ll sit in last place after 10 rounds, they’ve taken a step towards potentially getting off the bottom of the ladder. That said, they were 13 competition points behind the Western Force in sixth before this week’s fixtures, so finals football still seems a long way away.

The Drua are still in trouble, but this win is a positive step forward.

This is a win for James O’Connor

A week is a long, long time in rugby union.

Lawson Creighton was superb for the Waratahs in their shock round nine win over the Chiefs at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium. While Josh Jacomb and Damian McKenzie struggled for the visiting team, Creighton controlled the tempo and had some noticeably positive involvements.

Former Wallaby James O’Connor has previously suggested on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby that Creighton was in the frame for national selection, with Noah Lolesio heading offshore after signing a short-term deal in Japan.

Tom Lynagh and Ben Donaldson are expected to feature in coach Joe Schmidt’s squad to face the British & Irish Lions in a matter of months, but ironically, it could be O’Connor who makes the grade ahead of Creighton as a third option at fly-half.

O’Connor famously kicked the winning points for the Crusaders in their dramatic 25-22 win over the Blues on Friday night. Taha Kemara has started a majority of games this season, but O’Connor has never let the Crusaders down as a reliable option off the bench.

So, O’Connor has well and truly entered the chat.

Without including Lolesio – which, to be fair doesn’t really make sense as O’Connor is playing abroad, so Schmidt’s selection policy should apply to them both equally – the Crusader has shot up to third on first five-eighth power rankings.

As for Creighton, the Waratahs’ first-choice No. 10 fell down the pecking order against the Drua. Creighton kicked the ball out on the full early on while putting up a high ball for Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to chase, and had a couple of other kicks deflected by the Fijians.

Throughout the match, Creighton struggled in tough conditions. It’s only one match, and that shouldn’t be a definitive reflection of where Creighton sits as a Wallabies contender, but O’Connor is the talk of the town at the moment.