Christian Lealiifano of Moana Pasifika against the Blues at Eden Park, Auckland. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
For Moana Pasifika, defence is at the heart of their game and they will need it when they face off against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday afternoon in round 12 of Super Rugby Pacific.
While they haven't won a game this season with their record standing at 0-10 going into Saturday's game, they were desperately unlucky to lose to the Blues 31-30 thanks to a late penalty try last weekend.
In the meantime, seventh-placed Fijian Drua will look to consolidate their place in the playoff eight when they take on the Western Force in Perth late Friday night.
They will be buoyed by their 27-24 win over the Hurricanes at Churchill Park, Lautoka last week.
In their only Super Rugby Pacific encounter last year, the Force won 20-18 which will add a bit of spice to their upcoming game
But Moana Pasifika will take heart from the narrow loss to the Blues.
"We're about uplifting and positivity for our boys around what we're doing well, and we're really honest around things we need to be better with," head coach Aaron Mauger said.
"Probably the most pleasing thing for me (against the Blues) was we put a lot of work into our defence, and the heart of your team sits inside your defence."
He said Moana Pasifika were playing better rugby this year and with an ounce of luck they could have won a handful of matches this year.
"Just because we haven't got results doesn't mean we're not improving. You could see in the performance (against the Blues) we're not far off," he said.
"We've had probably five or six games where we've had a chance to win. We just need to put a little more polish in the performance and that will swing quite quickly," he said.
"We always knew it was going to take probably 3-5 years to be consistently competing with the best sides.
"It's disappointing we're not quite there yet in terms of the scoreboard. But it doesn't mean there's a lack of effort and it doesn't mean we're not growing.
"We can be proud of those things and not get distracted by those external pressures," Mauger said.
Ezekiel Lindenmuth and Moana Pasifika team mates after another heart-breaking loss. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
Captain returns for Drua
For Fijian Drua, Meli Derenalagi returns to captain the side and has been named on the run-on-team after coming off the bench last week.
Te Ahiwaru Cirikidaveta, who missed the last two games, also returns alongside Eroni Sau and Jone Koroiduadua.
"It is a rollercoaster and at the end of the day you have your thrills and spills," coach Mick Byrne said.
"We've been working really, really hard to play for 80 minutes and that is what need to do against the Force," he said.
"Once you're in the top-eight it is matter of staying there and when the playoffs are here anything can happen."
He said his team gets tired, but they need to play through the pain, which they did against the Hurricanes.
"If the coach and the players have a good week then we put ourselves in with chance of winning a game of football. We have had another good week so we give ourselves a chance this weekend," he said.
He said they could ill-afford to take the Force lightly.
"They are a much-improved side and they going to be hard to beat on their home track.
"But we go over and give it a good shake and we'll see if we can come away with the points," Byrne said.
