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“I know it’s something on our shoulders and we’ve got to shrug it off. And once we shrug it off and get a good away win, and I think in terms of our club it will move forward” Fijian Drua coach Glen Jackson.
There is no questioning just how dangerous Fijian Drua are when playing at home.
Rival teams and clubs have come to realise that travelling to Fiji to play the side has become an important part of their season calendar, battling the energetic vibe from the locals in the crowd and the heat and humidity of Suva.
But as they head into their first away game for 2025 against the Hurricanes in Napier, the team are yet again faced with the ongoing task of hoping to etch a win outside of Fiji.
In the past seasons, the side has failed to gain any sort of momentum when travelling for away matches, failing to be as successful when on home soil.
Speaking to the media during a press conference yesterday, new coach Glen Jackson did not shy away from admitting that it is in their minds ahead of this weekend’s match.
“I know it’s something on our shoulders and we’ve got to shrug it off. And once we shrug it off and get a good away win, and I think in terms of our club it will move forward” Jackson said.
Moving forward is much needed for the side, coming off a narrow loss in their opening match against the Brumbies last Saturday.
However, Jackson believes that the team is capable of achieving positive results especially with the help of his senior players in the side.
“We’ve got a lot of test players in our room who have played for Fiji, so it’s about what they have done um in terms of winning PNC pretty much away from home” he said
“You know our boys are going to have the confidence around what we are doing as a club and understand that uh when we travel we haven’t got the support of our wonderful and amazing crowd and they’ve got to find their own energy in preparing and performing as well as they can”
Jackson and his side will travel to Sydney after their clash in Napier to face the Waratahs, which adds on to the toughness of the season especially being on the road.
But it is something he is ready for and prepared to face with his side.
“We’ve prepared for these first three games as we know we got a fair bit of travel. It’s not easy to get to Napier from Fiji and then we got the Waratahs in Sydney on a six day turnaround” Jackson said.
“We have to balance what we are doing with our players, and we want to make sure everyone gets a run and what is best for our team”
Just like Drua, the Hurricanes are also heading into the match coming off a loss against the Crusaders last Friday.
Hoping to bounce back, Jackson is aware of just how much intensity and physicality he and his side will receive from their opponents come Saturday.
“They have just come off a loss so I know they will be hurting as well” Jackson added.
“One thing we have highlighted from the Hurricanes is their breakdown. We probably lost the battle of the breakdowns against the Brumbies, so they’ll (Hurricanes) will come hard there and we’ve got to look after that”
Drua and the Hurricanes will kick off this Saturday at Mclean Park in Napier at 4:35pm NZ time.