It has been more than 20 years in the making but the Fijian Drua craze has definitely brought in many positive results in the Shop N Save Super Rugby Competition with the Drua merchandise already becoming the most sold in the competition and the Drua home games on an average generating $10 million per game.
@fijivillage.com Drua merch most sold in the comp and an average of $10M generated from each home game #fiji #fyp ♬ original sound fijivillage
While speaking on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan, Swire Shipping Fijian Drua Head Coach, Glen Jackson says their biggest success since the competition started has been the Fijian Drua fans.
He says it is the envy of every club.
Jackson says this is a great success story and the players need to always understand what it means to be a Drua player.
He adds they are also looking more closely into their game management with many close losses this season.
The head coach says they are trying to create a squad that has more maturity that can question not only the referees’ decisions but also the Drua’s game decisions.
Jackson says this is the reason why they have brought in Frank Lomani and Tevita Ikanivere as co-captains.
He says they are a 4 year old club but still have very young players, and they have to understand and manage the game.
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Jackson stresses the Drua understands what rugby means to the country and some players from the development team have gone to play some 7s and some 7s players like Ponipate Loganimasi are coming into the Drua team.
He says no doubt they will lose players to make more money but it brings excitement in developing new players.
Speaking on accountability and the apprenticeship coming to an end, Jackson says they have had some challenges where they have let some players go.
He says they have a Young Academy and they are focusing on on-the-field and off-the-field issues, and a major area is mental development.
Jackson says they will never lose the Drua style and that is Fiji.
