The Swire Shipping Fijian Drua’s 15-40 loss to the Blues in Auckland was overshadowed by head coach Glen Jackson’s public irritation at the team being denied the chance to perform its traditional pre-match challenge on the field. Jackson said the decision — communicated to the team on Friday night — left him “a little bit of a grumble” given the occasion and the cultural significance of the ritual.
The match was staged as a tribute to late Fijian winger Joeli Vidiri, whose name now adorns a trophy contested by the two sides. The Blues claimed that honour on the night, but Jackson said the absence of the Drua’s on-field challenge diminished the Pacific flavour he believes Super Rugby Pacific should showcase. “I think Super Rugby Pacific is about incorporating what the Pacific brings and obviously we haven’t been able to do it,” he told reporters after the game.
Jackson suggested the team had been repeatedly hampered by inconsistent application of heat-stoppage and safety protocols. He pointed to previous fixtures where the Drua could not perform the challenge — notably at Churchill Park in Lautoka against the Queensland Reds, when conditions were recorded at about 28 degrees Celsius, and at Govind Park in Ba against the Brumbies — and said protocols had effectively curtailed the team’s pre-game routine. “I’ve got a few grumbles with how heat protocols are going on in Fiji; we haven’t been able to get our game going, we’re not allowed to do ‘Na i-Bole’ there either because it’s too hot,” Jackson said.
Unable to mount the challenge on the pitch at Eden Park, the Drua held their battle chant in the change room. Halfback Frank Lomani led the version filmed in the dressing room; the club later posted the video on its official Meta and Instagram accounts. The chant has not been broadcast live since the Drua’s round-one clash in Lautoka against Moana Pasifika, when World Rugby-aligned heat-stoppage protocols forced its removal from the live build-up.
The episode renews a recurring debate about how competition organisers should balance player safety with the cultural expressions teams bring to Super Rugby Pacific fixtures. Jackson’s comments amount to the most outspoken criticism yet from within the Drua camp since the competition began, and they underline tensions that have emerged as the tournament tours through varying climates and regulatory environments across the Pacific and New Zealand.
Looking ahead, the Drua will quickly refocus on on-field matters, travelling to Christchurch to face the Crusaders at 6.05pm on Friday. With heat and cultural protocols likely to remain in view, the club and tournament organisers may face renewed calls for clearer arrangements so Pacific teams can safely present their pre-match traditions without losing the opportunity to do so on live television and in front of fans.
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