Coach's challenge for Drua to fight through road woes
Fijian Drua coach Glen Jackson has challenged his side to show greater fight on the road after closing their Super Rugby Pacific season with their heaviest defeat.
The visitors conceded three tries in 10 minutes while Iosefo Masi was in the sin-bin in the first half on Saturday, effectively ending the contest early as the Queensland Reds cantered to a 52-7 win.
It was the Drua's biggest loss of a 4-10 season and capped a winless Super Rugby Pacific campaign away from home.
They were a menace on home soil, beating the Reds earlier this month, and came within a try of beating the Hurricanes and Waratahs in their first two away games this season.
Moana Pasifika (6-8), who joined the competition in 2022 alongside the Drua, were in the hunt for a finals berth until the final round.
There will be departures, with captain and hooker Tevita Ikanivere leaving after playing his 50th game for the club on Saturday.
Olympic gold medallist and centre Masi, fullback Selestino Ravutaumada and flyhalf Caleb Muntz are also departing for European clubs.
Jackson said that retention wasn't any more of an issue than it was for Australian rugby and that the Drua had the resources to improve again in their fifth season.
"We do absolutely; great facilities, great sponsors behind us," he said.
"We have got players that when it gets a bit tough, need to fight through that.
"We get it at home but unfortunately, away, too often we resort to things that aren't the way we want to play."
"We are a young club with a proud rugby history but a lot of these boys haven't experienced winning away.
"It's the pressure that continues to build on them.
"It showed that when we had a bit of adversity with a sin-bin it seemed like the boys switched off."
Reds coach Les Kiss, set to take over as Wallabies coach later next year expects the Drua to become a constant threat under Jackson.
"They're dangerous at any given time and with very good coaches, they're not far off on a few things that's for sure," he said.
"That's (winning on the road) what they've got to overcome."
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Blokes with kids in schools, partners with jobs and you didn't know what it would be like in six months. "To come up here to this program, have clarity to focus on rugby ... I'm really enjoying it." Anderson scored three times inside 10 minutes then had a fourth when in-form flyhalf Tom Lynagh assisted again with a calm cross-field kick to his corner. "I didn't know (about the record)," he said. "You're in the thick of it, don't think too much about it but didn't know the stats on it anyway. "It's a great feeling, to be on the back end of some of that stuff and when you train those moves at training and a few come off. "You always need a bit of luck in this game and I got a bit of it." The Reds, who were on top of the ladder barely a month ago, finished fifth and will need to beat the second-placed Crusaders to earn a spot in a semi-final. The Crusaders inflicted the biggest defeat - 43-19 - on the Reds this season when they met in March. "The belief we've got, across the whole squad, in all positions," Anderson said. "We've been tested on that front and everyone has belief. It gives confidence about how far we can go." Now in rare rugby air, it's no wonder Lachie Anderson has a sense of clarity. The Tokyo Olympian and rugby sevens convert joined an exclusive Super Rugby group in Saturday's final round of the regular season when he crossed four times for the Queensland Reds. His extraordinary first-half effort is a Reds record in the professional era. Wallabies stars Joe Roff (Brumbies, 1996) and Drew Mitchell (Waratahs, 2010) are the only other Australians to replicate the feat. A potential ankle injury to fellow winger Tim Ryan may make the process simpler for coach Les Kiss. But in a team brimming with backline talent, Anderson's haul against the helpless Fijian Drua was a strong case for retention on the wing in Friday's quarter-final against the Crusaders in Christchurch. Fellow sevens convert Corey Toole is loudly pushing his case for Test honours in Canberra with the ACT Brumbies. This was the centre stage moment for the underrated 27-year-old Melbourne Rebels recruit, where he had moved to in 2020 and played 35 games before the club was shuttered last year. "It's amazing what clarity on your future can do," Anderson said. "It wasn't easy in Melbourne and what the club went through. Unless you were there and living it you don't now how tough that was. "The unknown; it's tough. Blokes with kids in schools, partners with jobs and you didn't know what it would be like in six months. "To come up here to this program, have clarity to focus on rugby ... I'm really enjoying it." Anderson scored three times inside 10 minutes then had a fourth when in-form flyhalf Tom Lynagh assisted again with a calm cross-field kick to his corner. "I didn't know (about the record)," he said. 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