Fijian Drua beat Queensland Reds to reach Super Rugby Pacific playoffs for the 1st time
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The Fijian Drua made history by beating the Queensland Reds 34-17 in Suva on Saturday to qualify for the quarterfinals of Super Rugby Pacific for the first time.
Moana Pasifika continued a big day for the Pacific teams, upsetting the Waratahs 33-24 in Sydney for their first win of the season.
In a seesawing game at Wellington, the Hurricanes produced a 27-26 comeback win over the second-place Crusaders and the league-leading Chiefs capped off the last weekend of the regular season with a 43-19 win over the Western Force in Perth.
The Drua moved up to seventh spot, pushing the Dunedin-based Highlanders out of the top eight, and will play the Crusaders in the first round of the playoffs. The Reds clung onto last of the quarterfinals positions after the Western Force were beaten, and will face the Chiefs next week.
The Reds, the only team to beat the Chiefs this season, had no answer for the Drua.
Backed by a raucous home crowd, the Fijians broke out of a 17-17 stalemate at halftime to score three second-half tries while holding the Reds scoreless after the break. When the final whistle sounded, Drua fans shook the National Stadium as they danced to Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best.”
“You can see how happy we are now,” Drua captain Meli Derenalagi said. “Hats off to the soldiers (players) behind me for doing their duty today.
“First of all a big bula vaka levu (many thanks) to our fans who came out in numbers today, just to support their home team.”
There were no signs in an even first half that the Drua would so thoroughly dominate the second. They outplayed the Reds at set pieces and buckled the defense with constant, strong ball-running so that the visitors couldn’t easily escape their own half.
The win was triumphantly sealed by a try to star backrower Joe Tamani, who dashed 50 meters to finish a breakout as the crowd roared its approval.
The Drua scored the first try of the match after only four minutes when Selestino Ravataumada charged down a clearing kick by Reds flyhalf James O’Connor and collected the bounce to score.
The Reds responded immediately with a try to Ryan Smith but the Drua went ahead again with a try to Kelaveti Ravouvou.
Fraser McReight scored for the Reds, who edged further ahead with an O’Connor penalty, but the Drua leveled the score at halftime with a try to Vilive Miramira.
The second half belonged to the Drua, who added tries to Misake Doge and Tevita Ikanivere as the Reds lost discipline and McReight went to the sin bin. Tamani’s try was a glorious finale.
At Wellington, the Hurricanes rallied from 19-3 down to edge the Christchurch-based Crusaders.
The match had no significance for the playoffs. The Crusaders already had sealed second place and the Hurricanes were safe in fifth place before the match began.
The Hurricanes will travel to Canberra to play the ACT Brumbies in the first round of the playoffs while the Crusaders have yet to learn who their quarterfinal opponents will be. That will be decided later Saturday when the Western Force host the league-leading Chiefs in Perth.
The Crusaders dominated the first half against the Hurricanes, scoring tries through Leicester Fainga'anuku — his 11th of the season — hooker Codie Taylor and center Braydon Ennor. The Hurricanes scored just before halftime to trail 19-8.
Momentum swung in the second half, with the Hurricanes dominating territory and taking a 27-19 lead with tries from scrumhalf Cam Roigard, fullback Josh Moorby and backrower Brayden Iose before the Crusaders finished with a try to Chay Fihaki after the fulltime siren.
In Sydney, a week after missing a late conversion that could have given Moana Pasifika its first win of the season, veteran flyhalf Christian Leali'ifano landed four goals and sprinted 40 meters to score a try on the hour that gave his team a big enough cushion to set up victory.
The Waratahs missed the chance to send long-time leader Michael Hooper out with a victory in his last home game and, after being outmuscled by Moana, will have six days to regroup for a quarterfinal match against the Blues in Auckland.
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