{"id":502793,"date":"2026-02-25T09:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/502793\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:00:18","slug":"fijian-drua-welcome-back-experience-as-nasova-earns-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/502793\/","title":{"rendered":"Fijian Drua welcome back experience as Nasova earns debut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Fijian Drua<\/a> have named their squad to take on the Hurricanes<\/a> on Saturday, where head coach Glen Jackson has given Joji Nasova<\/a> his Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> debut.<\/p>\n

Nasova, the Olympic Silver medalist and 2025 HSBC SVNS top try scorer, becomes Drua No. 73 if he takes the field on Saturday, alongside Epeli Momo<\/a> and Ilaisa Droasese<\/a> in the back three.<\/p>\n

Jackson also welcomes back Etonia Waqa<\/a>, Emosi Tuqiri<\/a> and Vilive Miramira<\/a> to their match day 23, after their disappointing defeat against the NSW Waratahs<\/a> in Sydney.<\/p>\n

Mesake Vocevoce gets the nod at No.4 in place of co-captain Temo Mayanavanua<\/a>, who picked up a knee injury against the Waratahs.<\/p>\n

The former referee turned head coach has chosen a 6-2 split on the Drua bench, with Issak Fines-Leleiwasa<\/a> and Inia Tabuavou<\/a> being the only backs replacements.<\/p>\n

Fijian Drua No.9 Frank Lomani<\/a> becomes only the second ever player from the franchise to play over 60 Super Rugby Pacific games, when he runs out for his 61st appearance on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Starting XV<\/p>\n

Haereiti HetetZuriel TogiatamaMesake DogeMesake VocevoceIsoa NasilasilaEtonia WaqaMotikiai MurrayElia CanakaivataFrank LomaniIsaiah Armstrong-RavulaEpeli MomoIsikeli RabituTuidraki SamusamuvodreJoji NasovaIlaisa Droasese<\/p>\n

Reserves<\/p>\n

Kavaia TagivetauaEmosi TuqiriPeni RavaiVilive MiramiraKitione SalawaIsoa TuwaiIssak Fines-LeleiwasaInia Tabuavou<\/p>\n

ASPEN MEDICAL INJURY WARD<\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Temo Mayanavanua<\/a> (knee)<\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ponipate Loganimasi<\/a> (hip)<\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Manasa Mataele<\/a> (leg)<\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Meli Tuni<\/a> (shoulder)<\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Simione Kuruvoli<\/a> (shoulder)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fijian Drua have named their squad to take on the Hurricanes on Saturday, where head coach Glen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-502793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}