Moana Pasifika narrowly lost to the Waratahs 20-26, but enough to send a warning to the Fijian Drua who were handed a 67-5 drubbing by the Hurricanes over the weekend, ahead of the battle of the Super Rugby Pacific newbies this week.
Moana Pasifika opened the scoring, running in three tries to lead 17-0 at one stage before the Waratahs’ comeback, but it was enough to put on notice the Fijian Drua when they meet up in the SRP bottom of the table clash this Saturday, 14 May
Both sides are looking to secure their second win to avoid the wooden spoon, with the Moana Pasifika having the upper hand of having four more games to play including this weekend’s game as opposed to the Fijian Drua with three to go.
The two sides have a win each, from 11 games in the case of the Fijian Drua and 10 for Moana Pasifika – a 31-26 win over the Rebels in round three and 24-19 win over the Hurricanes in round six respectively.
Against the Fijian Drua, the Hurricanes ran in 11 tries to the Drua’s lone five-pointer in a one-sided encounter underlined by a 62-point margin, the biggest in the Super Rugby Pacific 2022 competition thus far.
Winger Onisi Ratave started off the bench to score the Drua’s lone try in the 27th minute of the second half, at a time when Hurricanes were in the lead with nine tries. The Hurricanes scored four tries in the first half to lead 26-0 at the breather.
Photo: Stan Sport
