FMF Rewa defeated Nawaibuta Holdings Northland 9-8 in a thrilling match for the Viti Levu Skipper Cup Qualifier at the Dawasamu Secondary School ground in Tailevu yesterday.
Head coach Isireli Ledua praised his players for their determination after they secured a hard-fought victory
The narrow win qualifies Rewa to the Skipper Cup competition after a fiercely contested encounter in front of a home crowd.
Ledua first acknowledged God for the opportunity to compete before thanking the supporters who turned up in numbers to witness the clash.
“I thank the Lord Almighty for a beautiful day and also the crowd that came out to support the teams,” he said.
He said he was proud of the commitment shown by his players, especially knowing the challenge of facing Northland on their home ground.
“We’ve come this far and I’m proud of the boys’ performance today. They fought for the full 80 minutes. It’s never easy coming here to play against a team on their home ground. We expected a tough game and we came with one objective, and that was to get the win.”
The match remained evenly poised at halftime, with 6-3 points separating the two teams.
Ledua admitted his side lacked concentration during the opening spell despite controlling several key areas of the game.
“I think the boys lacked concentration and our decision-making wasn’t right in the first half. Even though we were dominating our set-pieces, some of our decisions let us down.”
He said the halftime team talk focused on returning to the basics and trusting the preparation they had put in throughout the week.
“The message was simple. We told the boys to get back to what we had been working on all week, settle into the game and stick to our game plan. Once we did that, we were able to achieve what we came here to do.”
FMF Rewa have now qualified with Taveuni Rugby into the Skipper Cup competition.
