Fijian Drua flyer Eroni Sau caught the eye with a well-taken try in his side’s 34-14 defeat to the Western Force in their Super Rugby Pacific clash in Perth on Friday.
With the home side holding a 12-0 lead, the Drua needed a response and that came in the 15th minute when they launched an attack from a line-out deep inside Force territory.
Captain Tevita Ikanivere took the ball into contact from the set phase before going to ground close to try-line. The ball was recycled quickly with Iosefo Masi gathering a pass from Frank Lomani before offloading to the on-rushing Sau.
He was confronted by two defenders but sold the first one a dummy before getting past the other one with a strong hand-off on his way over the try-line.
Lomani added the extras and the Drua were back in the match with the score 12-7 in the Force‘s favour.
Eroni Sau: The Sledgehammer from Suva 💪#FORvDRU #SuperRugbyPacific pic.twitter.com/6oHHERnKFG
— Super Rugby Pacific (@SuperRugby) May 12, 2023
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Earlier, tries from Manasa Mataele and Folau Fainga’a gave the Force their lead with Max Burey succeeding with one conversion.
After Sau’s five-pointer the visitors upped the ante on attack and were rewarded with another converted try from Te Ahiwaru Cirikidaveta before Burey slotted a penalty to give the hosts a slender 15-14 lead at half-time.
The Force were fastest out of the blocks after the interval and were rewarded shortly after the restart when Jeremy Williams crossed the whitewash. Burey’s conversion gave them a 22-14 lead and the next 20 minutes was an arm wrestle as both sides battled to gain the ascendancy.
The Force went further ahead in the 64th minute, however, when Fainga’a grabbed his second and they sealed their victory in the game’s closing stages when Carlo Tizzano crossed for their fourth try.
Video credit: Super Rugby Pacific