Fijian Drua Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Winning for the fans is the motivation the Fijian Drua's top brass are using to inspire the players as they focus on securing victory over the Western Force in Lautoka on Saturday.
A dismal season, following two quarterfinal appearances in the last two years, has seen the Drua sit at the 11th position on the Super Rugby Pacific competition standing.
Three home losses, to the Brumbies, Crusaders and the Blues have resulted in fans beginning to stay away from matches.
That was seen in the team's three recent games at home, one in Lautoka and two in Suva, where what used to be packed seatings at Churchill Park and the National Stadium in 2023 and 2024, saw half capacity filled stadiums.
Head coach Glen Jackson, who was handpicked by the Drua chief executive officer, Mark Evans, for the job, told the media in his press briefing in Nadi on Tuesday, the team know they have let their fans down.
"I know there's a lot of responsibility and effort and sort of expectation on our men to perform for our country," Jackson said.
"There's never a problem with our boys wanting the fans to do well. We love the fans, you know, we're hoping a good turnout in Lautoka.
"Our boys love Lautoka and there's a great opportunity for a great free flowing game of rugby. I know they're in a similar boat to us. So it's going to be a good scrap...and just making sure we put on a good performance for everyone."
Jackson said the challenge has been working on players to believe in themselves and their capabilities, adding the bottom line is the players need to enjoy the game they play, and what they are doing, win or lose.
"Our job is to make sure that they believe they're great rugby players," Jackson stated.
Will Jordan is tackled against the Fijian Drua. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
"I believe they're great rugby players. And then with the distractions that we've sort of had with players, which we know are going to leave, just making sure that everyone finishes the season strongly. Enjoy what it they doing and it's the mentality to making sure that we got it, win or lose, is very important.
"But at the end of the day, it's making sure these fellas love what they do, and love the club and and give back to it, to everything that the supporters and the sponsors give to us in this club."
The former Chiefs player and international whistleman said the team have had an interrupted campaign this season, including news of players leaving and a couple linked to domestic violence cases.
"We've had a heck of a lot of distractions this year, which hasn't been ideal," he said.
"We've got a lot of players playing their last game in Lautoka, so it's important that they finish strongly."
Tough Force battle
Having had a tough run against the Crusaders, Moana Pasifika, Waratahs, Reds and Blues, Jackson is not backing away from the fact that the Western Force is going to be another tough nut to crack.
He reckons the men from Perth will be tougher than the Blues in Suva, last weekend.
"They're very different to the Blues," he said of their upcoming opposition.
"They use the ball a lot. Their lineout is as a weapon of theirs.
"We've already highlighted a few things that we feel they do well, but probably incorrectly. Jumping across the lineout and the breakdown is a massive fight.
"So we've said to our boys, that's going to be the area that you wouldn't lose. Looking after that ball on the ground, making sure we take the ball into contact, and once we look after it, hopefully using our good back three to score some tries."
He said both teams will be fighting for a win.
The Force are at ninth position with 22 points - seven more than the Drua.
A win for the Drua and a loss to the Highlanders, who are at 10th position, will see the Fijians jump out of the bottom spot.
The Force will stay on at 9th if they lose but could move up to 8th or 7th if they win.
"There's definitely two games that stand out that we we didn't play anywhere we'd like to play, and one of them was in Perth," Jackson said, pointing to the 52-15 thrashing they received from the Force in Round 5.
"So, they're fighting for every point as we are."
'Mentality to win'
Jackson said Lautoka is special to the Drua, with a nine win record there out of 10 matches.
"It's an important place for us, and we'd like to keep that winning record up," he said.
"But we certainly have to have to go with the mentality to win the game. The Force are very at good lineouts, extremely well disciplined, pretty well played. It's going to be a good scrap in a nice place to get a win."
That home base tag is what he hopes will also inspire the team to play well and get what they want in front of their fans.
The Blues was a tough one for them and Jackson said they have moved on and learned.
"I'm sure they'll be better than last week, you know, when we're still in the scrap," he stated.
"We've had a very hard review of our performance, and what went wrong there, in terms of our want, I suppose.
"We knew the Blues would play the way they did. And at times we defended really well. At times we hung under the ball, and then other times we just let ourselves down.
"As a club we're striving very hard to finish as high as we can. We know if we can still win and come seventh. But we're just going to concentrate on this game, and it goes a long way of winning this, not only for for our confidence, but also for the people Fiji."
Meanwhile, the Drua will lose key players Iosefo Masi and Selesitioni Ravutaumada to French clubs after the competition this year.
However, they have also signed England-based Flying Fijian, Temo Mayanavanua, who will join the club after his assignments with the Fijian national side.
Jackson has also revealed that they are also going to recruit a number of other players.
"As I said, we've we're making sure we're signing some good people that come back into this club," he said.
"We're signing some people that really want to be here, and we're excited to finish well, but also then obviously into the next year."
Fijian Drua v Western Force
Kick-off: 3.35pm Saturday 17 May
Venue: Churchill Park, Lautoka
Other matches this weekend:
Friday May 16: Hurricanes vs Highlanders at the Sky Stadium at 7.05pm; Waratahs vs Crusaders at the Allianz Stadium, Sydney at 9.35pm
Saturday May 17: Moana Pasifika vs Blues at North Harbour Stadium, Albany at 7.05pm; Brumbies vs Reds at the GIO Stadium, Canberra at 9.35pm.
