Riding high after taking down the table-topping Chiefs, the new-era NSW Waratahs face the ultimate test of their Super Rugby Pacific title bona fides on a banana-skin trip to Lautoka.
Unbeaten in five home games this campaign but winless on the road, a loss to the lowly Fijian Drua on Saturday would be right on brand for the competition’s Jekyll and Hyde outfit. It would also make their bid to returns to the finals that much harder, with a difficult run into June’s knockout matches to follow next week’s bye.
Hence why the Tahs are talking up the importance of backing up last Friday’s rousing 21-14 victory over the Chiefs against a Drua side languishing eight points adrift of the second-last-placed Moana Pasifika at the halfway point of the season.
“We’re good at home, but we need to be even better when we’re playing those away games,” NSW back-rower Langi Gleeson said on Tuesday.
“So we can’t be getting complacent from last week.”
Waratahs coach Dan McKellar has already indicated he plans on leaving one or two big-name players at home with Test prop Angus Bell due to be rested after starting every match this year. He might be alone either.
Adding to the challenge is the fact the match will be played in front of the Drua’s feverish fans at Churchill Park, where the Waratahs were run down 39-36 in the tropical heat last year.
“In Fiji, they’re always a tough team,” Gleeson said.
“When we play them it’s probably our most physical game all year, and I’m sure they’ll give us a good game.
“We just need to play our game, just stick to our system, getting our shots in and just trusting each other on our inside and outside because the Drua are very dangerous, especially with the offloads and the broken play.”
Langi Gleeson was on fire for the Waratahs against the Fijian Drua at Allianz Stadium earlier this year. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The Waratahs learnt a hard lesson in the perils of being seduced into playing a free-flowing Islanders-style of rugby when they conceded 38 second-half points to lose to Moana two weeks ago in Auckland.
“Playing the full 80 minutes the way we want to … we didn’t do that, and we’re really working on that,” Gleeson said.
“The Chiefs as well, we sort of let ourselves down in the second half, but we’ll try and put in a good 80-minute performance because any team, the whole of the Super Rugby, is dangerous.
“Anyone can lose, anyone can win, as we’ve seen through the previous games.
“When we play the Drua, they’re always switched on and they always go hard against us.
“So even if they’re number one or last, we need to take this really seriously.”
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii scored in the Waratahs’ upset win over the Chiefs in Sydney. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Fans can count on Gleeson taking the Drua seriously.
With a rich Fijian heritage, the back-rower always grows an extra leg against the Drua, and was a two-try hero for NSW in their last-gasp 29-24 round-three win in Sydney.
He will also have an army of family in the crowd on Saturday.
“I’ve got a lot of family in Fiji, so there’ll be a lot that’s coming, even some that I don’t know,” Gleeson said.
“They’re everywhere, to be honest. I’ll see how many tickets I can bring but, yeah, maybe 20, maybe 50, I don’t know.
“But last time I was there, there was heaps of them there, and it’ll be good to see them again.”
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