The Fijian Drua produced one of the biggest upsets in Super Rugby Pacific history, racing to a 22–7 half-time lead before holding off a furious Brumbies comeback to win 33–28 at GIO Stadium — their first victory on Australian soil since 2023 and only their second road win in 34 attempts.
Key moments
13 mins – TRY BRUMBIES: The Brumbies drive a lineout towards the Drua goal line, and when the ball comes loose, Nick Frost picks and goes from close range to dot down. The TMO confirms the grounding. Ryan Lonergan converts. (Brumbies 7–0 Fijian Drua)
15 mins – TRY FIJIAN DRUA: The Drua hit straight back. They break down the right edge and work it wide left with a couple of long, looping passes to Etonia Waqa, who offloads outside for Manasa Mataele to crash over in the corner. Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula misses the conversion. (Brumbies 7–5 Fijian Drua)
26 mins – PENALTY FIJIAN DRUA: After the Drua win another scrum penalty, Armstrong-Ravula slots from the right flank to give the visitors the lead for the first time. (Brumbies 7–8 Fijian Drua)
29 mins – TRY FIJIAN DRUA: Ryan Lonergan looks to shift the ball wide right but Mataele reads it perfectly, intercepting and racing 60 metres untouched to score his second. Armstrong-Ravula converts. (Brumbies 7–15 Fijian Drua)
37 mins – TRY FIJIAN DRUA: The Drua pick and go through the middle with Waqa and Isoa Tuwai making inroads. Issak Fines-Leleiwasa spots the Brumbies out of position after a quick penalty tap from 10 metres out and powers over. Armstrong-Ravula converts. (Brumbies 7–22 Fijian Drua)
Half-time: Brumbies 7–22 Fijian Drua. One of the Drua’s best halves of the season. Fines-Leleiwasa and Armstrong-Ravula controlled the game superbly, with Waqa and Salawa dominant up front. The Drua turned the Brumbies over repeatedly at the breakdown and dominated at scrum time. The hosts looked disjointed on attack with ten handling errors, and only Frost’s early try kept them on the board.
44 mins – TRY BRUMBIES: The Brumbies earn a scrum advantage and fire it wide right through Tom Wright, who finds Ollie Sapsford with a cut-out pass. Sapsford races down the edge, cuts back inside and crashes over. Lonergan converts. (Brumbies 14–22 Fijian Drua)
51 mins – PENALTY FIJIAN DRUA: Armstrong-Ravula slots from 30 metres in front after the Brumbies are pinged for offside in the lineout. (Brumbies 14–25 Fijian Drua)
56 mins – TRY FIJIAN DRUA: The Drua counterattack from a Brumbies lineout kick, with Inia Tabuavou finding space up the left past halfway. Armstrong-Ravula delivers a pinpoint crossfield kick to the right edge for replacement Simione Kuruvoli, who races away 25 metres to score in the corner. Armstrong-Ravula misses the conversion. (Brumbies 14–30 Fijian Drua)
58 mins – YELLOW CARD FIJIAN DRUA: Isikeli Rabitu is shown yellow after a TMO review for a high tackle on Ollie Sapsford that leaves the Drua fullback knocked out. Rabitu is carried from the field on a medical cart.
64 mins – TRY BRUMBIES: Patient build-up from the Brumbies draws in the defenders before they shift it through the hands on the left. Tane Edmed slips out of a tackle and dots down near the corner. Lonergan converts from the touchline. (Brumbies 21–30 Fijian Drua)
70 mins – TRY BRUMBIES: David Feliuai pops a pass back inside to Corey Toole, who cuts the defensive line to pieces and has too much gas for the cover, racing away to score under the posts. Edmed converts. (Brumbies 28–30 Fijian Drua)
79 mins – PENALTY FIJIAN DRUA: The Brumbies are penalised for offside in the defensive line, and Armstrong-Ravula slots from in front of the posts to restore a five-point buffer. (Brumbies 28–33 Fijian Drua)
80+ mins: The Brumbies win a penalty and Edmed finds touch 10 metres from the Drua line. But the lineout throw goes to ground and the Drua secure possession. The whistle blows.
Full-time: Brumbies 28–33 Fijian Drua
Match report
The Fijian Drua had won just one of their previous 33 matches on the road. They had not won in Canberra in their five-year Super Rugby Pacific history. Their players had spent the week training through the aftermath of Cyclone Vaianu, with some returning to sessions after mango trees had crashed through the roofs of their homes. None of that mattered on a chilly Saturday evening at GIO Stadium, where Glen Jackson’s side delivered one of the most remarkable results the competition has seen.
The Drua raced to a 22–7 lead by half-time through a combination of clinical finishing, scrum dominance and relentless breakdown pressure, before surviving a ferocious Brumbies fightback that brought the margin to just two points with 10 minutes remaining. Armstrong-Ravula’s nerveless penalty in the 79th minute and the Drua’s desperate defence of a final lineout drive ensured the visitors held on for a result that will reverberate through the competition.
Captain Temo Mayanavanua, playing his first match since a round-one knee injury, was emotional afterwards, telling Stan that his players had resolved to “create something special” despite the devastation at home. The returning skipper’s leadership added steel to a pack that competed ferociously throughout, with Etonia Waqa and Isoa Tuwai outstanding in the loose forwards.
The opening quarter was a frantic affair of TMO interventions. The Brumbies had a Sapsford try ruled out for a foot in touch, the Drua had a Waqa effort chalked off for a knock-on, and then Frost’s close-range score survived a review to give the hosts a 7–0 lead after 13 minutes. It looked like business as usual for the fourth-placed Brumbies, welcoming back Wallabies fullback Tom Wright from his ACL injury with early control.
But the Drua hit back immediately. Mataele finished emphatically in the corner after Waqa’s offload created the overlap, and from that point the visitors took command. Their scrum won repeated penalties against a Brumbies pack that had no answer to the pressure applied by Emosi Tuqiri and Samuela Tawake at tighthead, and Armstrong-Ravula punished the hosts from the tee to nudge the Drua into an 8–7 lead.
Mataele’s second was an interceptor’s dream. Reading Lonergan’s pass to the right edge, the winger plucked the ball out of the air and sprinted 60 metres untouched to score — a try that perfectly encapsulated the Brumbies’ disjointed attacking play, which produced 10 handling errors in the opening 40 minutes. Former Brumby Fines-Leleiwasa then rubbed salt into the wound with a quick-tap try from 10 metres that caught the hosts completely out of position, and the Drua took a commanding 22–7 advantage into the sheds.
The half-time message from Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham clearly hit home. Wright, who had looked sharp despite the long layoff, delivered a superb cut-out pass to send Sapsford racing down the right edge four minutes into the second half. The winger cut back inside and crashed over, and when Lonergan converted, the deficit was back to eight.
The Brumbies then blew a golden opportunity to close the gap further. Sapsford’s pop-up pass to Declan Meredith with the try line begging was fumbled, and the Drua punished the error ruthlessly. Within a minute, Armstrong-Ravula had delivered a pinpoint crossfield kick to the right edge where replacement Kuruvoli collected and raced away 25 metres to score in the corner. At 30–14, the mountain looked insurmountable.
A controversial yellow card to Rabitu in the 58th minute gave the Brumbies the opening they needed. The Drua fullback collided heads with Sapsford in a tackle where the Brumbies winger was pushed forward into the contact — Rabitu had little time to react but was carded regardless, and was carried from the field on a medical cart after being knocked unconscious. It was a moment that divided opinion, but the Brumbies capitalised ruthlessly.
Wright produced another assist to put replacement Tane Edmed over in the corner in the 64th minute, and when Toole sliced through a gap from Feliuai’s inside pass to race away untouched six minutes later, the deficit was just two points at 28–30. GIO Stadium was suddenly alive, and the momentum was entirely with the home side.
But the Drua refused to buckle. Armstrong-Ravula, whose game management throughout had been superb, stepped up to slot a penalty from in front of the posts in the 79th minute after the Brumbies were caught offside — a nerveless kick that restored the buffer to five points. The Brumbies had one final chance, winning a penalty and finding touch 10 metres from the Drua line with the clock in red. The lineout throw went to ground, the Drua secured possession, and the whistle blew to scenes of wild celebration from the visitors.
Armstrong-Ravula finished with 17 points from the boot — two conversions and three penalties from four attempts — to go with his decisive crossfield kick for Kuruvoli’s try. His composure under pressure was the hallmark of a performance that belied the Drua’s position near the foot of the table. Mataele’s double, Fines-Leleiwasa’s sharp-thinking quick tap, and Kuruvoli’s impact from the bench provided the attacking highlights, while Waqa’s relentless work at the breakdown and in the carry set the tone up front.
For the Brumbies, Wright showed enough in his 64 minutes to suggest the ACL has not diminished his quality — two try assists and sharp footwork were encouraging signs. But the hosts’ first-half handling and the breakdown errors that allowed the Drua to build their lead will be the lasting frustration. Replacements Edmed and Andy Muirhead injected life in the final quarter, but it was too little, too late.
The result moves the Drua to a 4–5 record, keeping alive their slim hopes of a first-ever finals appearance, while the Brumbies slip to 5–4 in a result that significantly complicates the race for the top six. Both sides head into Super Round next weekend — the Brumbies to face the Hurricanes, the Drua to take on the Chiefs — knowing that round 10 produced the kind of upset that reminds every team in the competition that nothing can be taken for granted.
Match details
Brumbies 28 (Tries: Frost 13′, Sapsford 44′, Edmed 64′, Toole 70′; Conversions: Lonergan 3/3, Edmed 1/1)
Fijian Drua 33 (Tries: Mataele 15′ 29′, Fines-Leleiwasa 37′, Kuruvoli 56′; Conversions: Armstrong-Ravula 2/4; Penalties: Armstrong-Ravula 3/4)
Half-time: 7–22
Yellow card: Isikeli Rabitu 58′ (high tackle)
Venue: GIO Stadium, Canberra
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Marcus Playle, Fraser Hannon
TMO: Glenn Newman
Milestones
- Tom Wright (Brumbies) — return from ACL injury sustained in August 2025, two try assists
- Temo Mayanavanua (Fijian Drua) — first appearance since round-one knee injury, captained the side
- Samuela Tawake (Fijian Drua) — 50th Super Rugby cap
- Tuaina Taii Tualima (Brumbies) — 50th Super Rugby cap
- Corey Toole (Brumbies) — 50th appearance for the club
Teams
Brumbies: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Ollie Sapsford, 13 Kadin Pritchard, 12 David Feliuai, 11 Corey Toole, 10 Declan Meredith, 9 Ryan Lonergan (c), 8 Tuaina Taii Tualima, 7 Luke Reimer, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Lachlan Shaw, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Billy Pollard, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Lachlan Lonergan, 17 Blake Schoupp, 18 Darcy Breen, 19 Toby MacPherson, 20 Rory Scott, 21 Klayton Thorn, 22 Tane Edmed, 23 Andy Muirhead.
Fijian Drua: 15 Isikeli Rabitu, 14 Isikeli Basiyalo, 13 Tuidraki Samusamuvodre, 12 Virimi Vakatava, 11 Manasa Mataele, 10 Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula, 9 Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, 8 Isoa Tuwai, 7 Kitione Salawa, 6 Etonia Waqa, 5 Isoa Nasilasila, 4 Temo Mayanavanua (c), 3 Samuela Tawake, 2 Zuriel Togiatama, 1 Emosi Tuqiri.
Replacements: 16 Kavaia Tagivetaua, 17 Penaia Cakobau, 18 Mesake Doge, 19 Mesake Vocevoce, 20 Joseva Tamani, 21 Simione Kuruvoli, 22 Kemu Valetini, 23 Inia Tabuavou.
What’s next
The Brumbies host the Hurricanes at GIO Stadium in round 11. The Fijian Drua face the Chiefs.
International3 weeks ago
International3 weeks ago
International2 weeks ago
International2 weeks ago
International1 week ago
International2 weeks ago
International2 weeks ago
International2 weeks ago