The Mataivalu Bears army rugby league team held on for a hard-fought 10-6 win against the Kinoya Sea Eagles in muddy conditions at Veiuto Ground two yesterday.
Th Vodafone Cup clash was one of the postponed matches from earlier rounds due to bad weather and unplayable grounds.
Bears captain Marika Tagicakobau admitted the team did not perform to expectations on slippery surface.
“It was not the performance we aimed to display today,” he said.
“But I’m grateful that we managed to come out with the win.”
Both teams struggled in the wet and slippery conditions, with handling errors and slow play affecting momentum.
The Bears managed to score two tries while the Sea Eagles responded with one of their own, but the Bears’ experience proved to be the difference in the end.
Tagicakobau said the team’s preparation leading up to the match was not ideal.
“Our preparation coming into this game was not well put together, and you could see that in our performance,” he said.
“But we managed to hang in there till the final whistle.”
The Bears used their experience to control the pace late in the second half and held off a strong push by Kinoya in the final minutes.
“It was a close game, and I guess the experience that we had as a team is the reason we came out strong today,” Tagicakobau said.
Despite walking away with the win, the army side were not satisfied with their overall performance.
The team will now focus on improving key areas.
“We did not achieve the goals we had set, especially in terms of performance,” he said.
“From this game, we’ll go back and work on our discipline and defence. If we sharpen those two areas, everything else will fall into place.”
The Bears now look ahead to the next round of the Vodafone Cup, hoping to build on their gritty win.