An 11-year jinx was broken by Queen Victoria School’s under-14 team when they won 17-15 over Suva Grammar School to claim the trophy in the grade’s final at the Vodafone Deans competition yesterday.
The match kicked off at 8am at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva, and QVS had to regain possession and composure to enable their towering performance of dominance over their Veiuto, Suva opponents.
QVS scored one converted try and two unconverted tries to set themselves in the lead while Grammar put through two unconverted tries, a conversion and a successfully placed penalty kick.
Head coach Josaia Waiwalu said the team had to make an indelible impact of their own, since they were the only team from Matavatucou heading into the finals and their winless 11-year streak in the grade.
“We just had to create our own legacy. Even the under-14 trophy, we haven’t won it for the past 11 years but today is quite special as well,” Waiwalu said.
“We were writing our own bit of history and we realised we represented the whole QVS fraternity; from the school to the old boys and to the QVS family.”
Waiwalu added their victory came through from the hard work and perseverance present in them being the only team from QVS to qualify for the Deans finals.
“I think today’s victory is very special to us, being the only team coming from QVS and being the youngest team as well,” Waiwalu said.
“I think it’s never an easy feat to come to the game, especially after what happened to our first 15 when it lost in the quarter-finals.
QVS was awarded $2000 in prize money.