Crusaders start fast to beat Fijian Drua in Suva

The Crusaders have broken their duck in Fiji.

In their third meeting away to the Fijian Drua, the Crusaders rode a fast start to a 31-14 win in Suva.

With the way things started for the Crusaders, fans would have been excited for the potential of what was to come.

The visitors had gone straight onto the attack courtesy of a beautiful 50/22 from first five-eighths Taha Kemara to secure an attacking lineout 5m out from the Fijian Drua’s line.

Less than five minutes into the contest, the Crusaders led after fullback Will Jordan smartly held up the ball in a tackle and was able to get an offload away to Noah Hotham. The halfback put his speed to good use, wrapping around and getting the ball to the try line.

The Crusaders extended that lead to 17-0 by the 23-minute mark, with tries to lock Antonio Shalfoon and right wing Chay Fihaki.

With their second and third tries coming in succession, it felt as though that might cause the floodgates to open as the Drua were forced to chase the game.

Instead, it became a game of almosts and nearlys.

Both teams found themselves in good attacking positions in what was an open game of rugby, but handling errors doused the flames of most promising opportunities for both teams.

After Fihaki’s try in the 22nd minute, the scoreboard wasn’t troubled again until the 57th minute, when a smart play on the blindside saw Jordan break through a hole before putting a kick in for left wing Macca Springer to chase down.

A Ioane Moananu try soon after extended the gap to 31 points, which proved too much for the Drua to chase down, despite some sizzling play in the last 15 minutes to score two tries of their own.

While it wasn’t always pretty, the Crusaders will take plenty away from the win after being tipped up by Moana Pasifika at home a week ago, particularly with the work at the set pieces and in the collision areas.

“In typical Drua fashion, they never say never and hung in there right until the end. I’m just really proud of the boys with the way we started and built a bit of momentum in that first half and hung on towards the end,” Crusaders captain Codie Taylor told Sky Sport.

“We were pretty embarrassed with last week and we really questioned our mindset. We knew we had to turn up today, right a few wrongs. We knew the Drua were coming off a loss as well, and they’d had a bye, and it was going to be a tough game. We talked about this being one of the hardest places to play in the world and it proved so again today. I’m just really proud that we got the job done and made a bit of Crusaders history.”

Crusaders 31 (Noah Hotham, Antonio Shalfoon, Chay Fihaki, Macca Springer, Ioane Moananu tries; Taha Kemara 2 cons, James O’Connor con)

Fijian Drua 14 (Isikeli Rabitu, Etonia Waqa try; Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula 2 cons)

HT: 17-0