Fijiana Drua have blitzed their way to a convincing Super W victory over the Western Force, winning 45-17 on Saturday.
The Drua scored seven tries in the first half at Leichhardt Oval and were too quick and physical for the Force right from the start.
The Force did, however, lift after trailing 45-0 at the interval, scoring the second stanza’s only three tries to bring a measure of respectability to the scoreline.
Drua’s Teresia Tinanivalu went over twice to lead the scoring as her side moved to 3-0 for the season to set up a potential grand-final preview with the NSW Waratahs in two weeks.
Forward Sereima Lewenqila made a strong case for player-of-the-match honours with three first-half try assists, her powerful runs stretching defenders and allowing her teammates to stroll through.
Tinanivalu’s second try was a show of pure strength, ripping the ball straight from a Force ball-carrier to score on the stroke of half-time, while a dazzling run from Timaima Ravisa completed the 45-0 first-half rout.
The Force struggled to deal with Drua’s free-flowing gamestyle with the machine-like outfit taking a quick tap at every opportunity to keep their opponents on the back foot.
But they opened the second-half via a miraculous try with Paihau Pomare crossing over in the corner, and they found a second minutes later through a Rebecca Clough dive for 45-10.
Huia Swannell then capped the gutsy second half effort by dancing around defenders to score close to the end to register the most points of any side against the Drua this season.
Force captain Trilleen Pomare said her side had regained its motivation at the half and came back firing, offering encouraging signs for the remainder of the season.
“We just remembered why we’re here … we have I think nine mums on our team, they’ve all left their babies at home, that’s what we’re doing,” she said.
“We just have to remember why we’re here and go again and scrap that first half.
“We leave that first half here, it was horrible … we’ve just got to keep building, we have more in the tank and we’re still scratching the surface,” she said.
SOURCE: AAP/PACNEWS
