Taking pride in producing champions, Ratu Kadavulevu School spent the last three years developing players for its under-17 team.
This as a handful of it’s players got better opportunities with overseas clubs just after winning the Vodafone Super Deans U15 title in 2022.
The team coaches and management challenged themselves to standby what the school is known for and that is to breed other players who can get the job done.
Those players did just that yesterday clinching the U17 trophy after beating a gritty Marist Brothers High School 35-34.
“Last year we had nine players in the final who have gone and we bred another new nine players and who knows some players may go away.
“The win means that the preparation was good and nothing else.
“We can’t say that anything else is better than preparation because when the preparation is good then the win is already there,” assistant team manager Metuisela Niufuka shared.
The manager took pride in their preparation reflecting on the days of intensive training.
“We looked at the discipline and end result comes after but 90 percent of it comes from what you do in camp, in school, in class and just 10% in the ground,” he added.
Both teams scored three tries a piece in the first spell but Lemeki Ravukivuki made the difference for Delainakaikai through his successful conversations to lead 21-17.
“During halftime, that was the message that we have the kids, it was like a switch going on and off. We just told them to complete whatever is being given and I thank the boys for holding the instructions they were given at halftime until the final whistle.”
Just like the initial spell, the second half wasn’t much of a difference with both teams going back and forth with tries.
Two consecutive tries to Marist had the RKS fans on the edge of their seats as one point separated the two.
Good defense by the RKS brigade at the dying seconds was the decider as they forced the Marist wave of attack to touch to hang on to the win.
From the 2022 winning team, three had been contracted to teams in Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
