A determined Ratu Kadavulevu School side deprived Lomaivuna High School of a taste of glory defeating the Naitasiri school 18-6 to retain the U19 title of the Coke Zero Deans competition at the ANZ Stadium on Saturday.
Locked three-all at half time, a rejuvenated RKS side dominated the second half of the final at ANZ Stadium in Suva. Marika Kubu scored a try early in the second half to give RKS an 8-3 lead. Onisimo Dakainikoro’s penalty narrowed the margin to 8-6. A converted try to Adrea Navelinikoro, however and a penalty to Nacanieli Turaga of RKS put the final scores at 18-6 in favour of the boys from Lodoni.
RKS head coach Meli Rabatobato said the boys had worked hard to defend their title and had urged the team to use the potential of the forwards to drive them to a win.
“As I analysed the game during the first half, I told the boys we have to play with our forwards because Lomaivuna is not good with their forward drive and that’s why we became victorious this afternoon. We salute Lomaivuna. Throughout the tournament we heard the story of Lomaivuna during the quarterfinals and the semi-finals but we came out as champions today,” he said.
Lomaivuna manager Manasa Dokonivalus said the team had done the people of the highlands proud despite the loss.
“The boys have done the vanua proud to reach this stage and we have been developing and in years to come we know that we will pose more competition to the U19 stage,” he said.
