Malolo marches on to first Skipper final

Tide Tribe Malolo has qualified to their first Skipper Cup grand-final after beating Jack’s Nadi 31-19 in their semifinal clash at Suva’s HFC Bank Stadium this afternoon. 

The Imanueli Bari captained-side led 21-5 at halftime.  

Malolo took the lead after a break from Douglas Daveta who offloaded to winger Tomasi Tawake to score the first try. Halfback Simeli Karacia added the extras to make it 7-0. 

Nadi came back strongly but it was Daveta who scooped a loose ball from an overthrown lineout to zig zag his way past Tuidraki Samusamuvodre and Vilive Aria before passing it to Bari who was in support to dot down the second try. Karacia kicked over the conversion to extend the lead to 14-0. 

Nadi used their big forwards to push their way closer to the Malolo tryline before Leone Nawai slipped a pass to flyhalf Aporosa Derenalagi to score their first try with the conversion going wide as they trailed 5-14. Malolo had the last say when Karacia dotted down their third try with Daveta converting for a 21-5 lead at halftime. 

Nadi started the second half with a blast as their big forwards led the charge but the Malolo defence was able to hold them back. From another forward drive the ball was spun out to Adrian Sanday to score their second try with Derenalagi kicking over the conversion to narrow the deficit to 21-12. 

Then with all eyes focused on Daveta, it was Malolo flyhalf Viliame Nalolo who sidestepped two Nadi players to score an individual try with Daveta converting for a 28-12 lead. 

Nadi never gave up and replacement prop Peni Malumu crashed over to score a try with the conversion going over to bring the scores to 28-19. 

Minutes away from full-time replacement flyhalf Tevita Ledua made no mistake in kicking over a penalty for Malolo to bring the final scores to 31-19.