The Fijian Drua arrived in Napier for their Super Rugby Pacific match with just one thing on the mind – to beat the Hurricanes in a Round 2 match between two first-weekend losers.

The team, with 15 changes from the side beaten 36-32 by the Brumbies in Suva last Saturday, landed at Hawke’s Bay Airport about midday on Friday on a flight from Auckland.

There were no fans to greet them on a 27C day, albeit four degrees cooler than back home.

The team headed for an afternoon captain’s run, ahead of the 4.35pm match Saturday.

The wider squad features Hawke’s Bay connections - forwards coach Chris Gibbes, the former Hurricanes assistant who played 32 games in the Magpies forward pack in 1994-1999 and defence coach Greg Fleming, the Hawke’s Bay union’s development officer in 2006-2010.

Drua coach Glen Jackson said this week at the team base in Nadi: “Our expectation is to win. You know, we’re not going there for any other reason. That’s the game of rugby. It’s not easy to get to Napier from Fiji”.

There’ve been 15 Super Rugby games at McLean Park, but this weekend’s is the first since the Hurricanes played Australian side Western Force there in 2021. The Hurricanes opened this year’s campaign losing 25-33 to the Crusaders in Christchurch.

Once forecasting a crowd of 8000-10,000, Hurricanes management are now forecasting up to 12,000 – more than 2000 up on the 2021 match.

Fan appeal has risen with the presence of Magpies Jacob Devery and Harry Godfrey in the starting line-up and Pouri Rakete-Stones and Ereatara Enari coming on from the bench. There is also Bailyn Sullivan (ex-Napier Boys’) and Kini Naholo (ex-Hastings Boys’) in the starting backline.

Two other Magpies, forwards Devan Flanders and Isaia Walker-Leawere are unavailable because of injury.

It’ll be a big night for Auckland-based Canadian Maggie Cogger-Orr, with her first men’s Super Rugby assistant referee appointment.

Cogger-Orr’s NPC refereeing debut was the Magpies match against Northland in Whangarei in 2023, four years after trailblazing Tararua District referee Rebecca Mahoney became the first woman to referee at that level in a Magpies match against Southland in Napier.

Saturday night’s referee is James Doleman. Cogger-Orr’s fellow assistant will be Fraser Hannon, from Otago.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.