There’s one word to describe Tom Wright tonight; outstanding, even at full-back. He’s got so much speed to process when his Brumbies team found some holes where the Drua struggled after these missed chances, and Wright’s ready to punish them with the ball from start to finish. He sent a message to New Zealand teams following his two tries that there’s more to come from the man, who has Wallaby & NRL experience, to run them down soon.
The next Brumbies player to look at is Irae Simone on the inside midfield at No.12. Not only does he back up as one of the support players, but he can also be a menace to Drua when it comes to the executions that reflect his team’s strong start. His passing and reading look tip-top that require communication with team-mates to keep the ball in play; you saw Len Ikitau protecting him by shielding the Drua defense while they left the finishing directions to fly-half Rodney Ioda. He continues to be a valuable starter where Simone’s blessed to play around & assist tries that brought him to the best of his abilities, such as Tom Wright, Rob Valetini, Andy Muirhead & Nic White. It will be interesting to see what he has to offer in the coming weeks v New Zealand teams, as Simone hopes to add on top of his two Wallabies caps later this year.
And Onisi Ratave stood out for the Fijian Drua tonight after a full 80 minutes on the right-wing at No.14. He was always there to give himself a helping hand when being tested in attack and defense. It goes to show with the numbers around him, Ratave used his physical and pacey force that frustrated the Brumbies at times through his natural game, especially in the 2nd half. He credits his team-mates with the clear & concise read from the Brumbies defense being under pressure when Drua has the ball on hand, before Ratave took these finishing opportunities & scored these Tries twice that gifted his team big points. Imagine if this scoring spree happened from the beginning of the game; that would be awesome. However, a poor start left them too late with the loss tonight.
