Super Rugby Pacific: Fijian Drua stun Hurricanes in Lautoka mud bath

Saturday, 28 February 2026

At Churchill Park, Lautoka: Fijian Drua 25 (Motikai Murray 30’, Tuidraki Samusamuvodre 50’, Etonia Waqa 67’ tries; Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula 2 con, 2 pen) Hurricanes 20 (Fehi Fineanganofo 12’, Peter Lakai 25’, Billy Proctor 34’ tries; Jordie Barrett con, pen). HT: 13-17.

The Fijian Drua have claimed another major scalp at their Churchill Park fortress, upsetting the Hurricanes 25-20 in treacherous conditions to secure their first win of the Super Rugby Pacific season.

Beaten in their opening two matches, the hosts scored the only tries of the second half on Saturday afternoon to grind out a valuable victory in the mud after trailing 17-13 at the break.

Despite dominating territory, the Hurricanes were shut out after halftime — their only points of the second half were a long-range Jordie Barrett penalty.

Poor handling in the wet blunted their attack, and a costly intercept from fullback Josh Moorby proved pivotal.

Moorby, last week’s hat-trick hero, threw a loose pass straight to Tuidraki Samusamuvodre, who raced away to set up the equaliser, with Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula converting to make it 20-all.

Blindside Etonia Waqa sealed it in the 67th minute, diving over in the left corner to spark wild celebrations following a brilliant offload from replacement prop Peni Ravai.

The Hurricanes had tried to prepare for the heat, holding meetings in a heat chamber at their Upper Hutt training base.

Instead, they were confronted by a waterlogged pitch that turned the contest into an arm wrestle and neutralised the backline that had dazzled against Moana Pasifika a week earlier.

They began brightly, with in-form winger Fehi Fineanganofo finishing in the corner after Billy Proctor caught the Drua napping with a quick tap and first five-eighth Callum Harkin fired a long cut-out pass.

Further tries to Peter Lakai and Proctor gave the visitors a narrow halftime lead, and Barrett’s booming penalty from inside his own half briefly stretched the margin to a converted try.

But they failed to add another point and their play became frantic when they were chasing the game.

The afternoon was summed up in the dying minutes when Proctor spilled a Drua kick, extinguishing any lingering hope of a comeback. Proctor showed his frustration by booting the ball away.

This was the Hurricanes’ second defeat in three visits to Fiji after losing 27-24 in Suva in 2023.

Although he wasn’t able to steer the Hurricanes to victory, Harkin produced a solid performance in the No 10 jersey with Ruben Love, Brett Cameron and Harry Godfrey sidelined through injury.

He was peppered with high balls in the first half and made a crucial intervention to prevent a Drua 50-22 right before halftime.

What they said

Hurricanes captain Jordie Barrett to Sky Sport: “The toughest thing, for obvious reasons, was holding the ball. We actually played a lot of the second half in the right end of the park but it was extremely hard to hold the ball and the Drua were very disciplined on defence and didn’t allow us too many entries into the corner. They played well today. You can see why they’re so hard to beat in Lautoka here.”

The big picture

The Drua have jumped up to ninth after registering their first win of the season, while the Hurricanes remain fourth with one win and one defeat from their first two matches.

What’s next

The Hurricanes will head straight to Sydney to prepare for their next match, against the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium next Friday.