Moana Pasifika keep playoff hopes alive with crucial win over Drua

Moana Pasifika have claimed one of their most important wins in the club’s Super Rugby Pacific history, keeping themselves in the playoff race with a crucial 34-15 win over the Fijian Drua at Albany’s North Harbour Stadium.

After 10 rounds, these teams occupied the bottom two places on the standings. The Fijians sat in last with just two wins from nine matches, and even though Tana Umaga’s side were slightly better off with a  3-7 record, Saturday’s clash had the potential to change everything.

If either side was going to qualify for the playoffs in just over one month, then winning this Battle of the Pacific was essential. Both Moana and the Drua only have four more round-robin fixtures each as they look to save their seasons by surging up the standings.

It was a scrappy start to the match as both sides made an error each inside the opening minute of play, which set the tone for what was to come. There were 10 handling errors inside the first 24 minutes as Moana and the Drua struggled to get things going.

While it made for tense viewing with the scores locked at nil-all, the deadlock was eventually broken after some backline magic from Moana. William Havili returned a kick before finding Danny Toala, who linked up with Fine Inisi and Lalomilo Lalomilo down the left edge.

Lalomilo broke through a couple of tackles, including a defensive effort from Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula, before finding Toala who crashed over from a metre out. The conversion missed the mark but Moana would go on to take control with another two quick tries.

Backrowers Miracle Faiilagi and Semisi Tupou Ta’eiloa scored a five-pointer each as the home side raced out to a commanding 17-nil lead. In between those try-scoring efforts, Toala came close to scoring a second but the inside centre dropped the ball over the try line.

The Drua’s best chance for points during the first 40 was a penalty attempt from the usually-reliable Armstrong-Ravula, but the fly-half pushed the attempt wide left. Moana had all the match’s momentum at this point, with the 17-nil half-time scoreline a fair reflection.

Only four minutes into the second term, Faiilagi completed a double as the hosts extended their already commanding lead to 22 points. They had been so dominant in attack that the team’s inaccuracies off the goal-kicking tee weren’t really a talking point.

It was fairly clear the Drua had to score next.

Replacement hooker Tevita Ikanivere was the hero who stepped up and answered the call, with the Flying Fijians enforcer racing away to score in the 47^th minute. Armstrong-Ravula added the extras and converted a penalty soon after, which reduced the deficit to just 12 points.

What happened next didn’t count in the end, but it was a highlight.

All Black Ardie Savea seemed to have scored one of the tries of the season, with the backrower executing a chip and chase to perfection, before regathering to score down the left wing. That effort was ruled out, but a Savea would still get on the scoresheet.

Moments later, after only just coming on from the bench, brother Julian Savea powered over to score Moana’s fifth try of the match. Havili couldn’t add the extras, but Moana had seemingly regained control of the game’s momentum.

Nobody told the Drua that, though.

With the match quickly getting away from the Fijians, winger Taniela Rakuro scored only one minute after Savea. It was a stunning, blink and you’ll miss it type of moment as the Fijians sparked more drama going into the final quarter of play.

The next period of play was dominated by defensive pressure and mistakes. As the clock continued to tick closer and closer to full-time, mistakes continued to stall the Drua who failed to get into another point-scoring position.

Moana capped off a much-needed triumph with one last try, as winger Tevita Ofa raced away to score an intercept try with about 90 seconds left to play. Patrick Pellegrini converted the try from in front to cap off a famous night for Moana, who moved into seventh on the live ladder.

With a tough run home, Moana still have plenty of work to do in a bid to play finals football, with matches against the Highlanders, Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes still to come. As for the Drua, they’ll face the Reds twice during their run to the end of the regular season.