Daveta defended their Ablitt 7s title in Singapore

Captain and Fiji Bati rep Luke Nadurutalo led from the front as he guided Daveta to victory in the final against Ponsonby of New Zealand.

In a rollercoaster final Daveta edged Ponsonby 19-17 which saw both teams trade leads .

Daveta opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a try to upcoming Fiji Bati star Maika Tudravu, who was later named Player of the Tournament.

Tudravu was a standout performer at the recent World Rugby League 9s in New Zealand.

But Ponsonby seized on their numerical advantage after Ratu Filise captain Leveni Tani was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on and had to sit out the last minute of the first half.

That was all it took for the New Zealanders to level the score through Rilloy Suesue.

Ponsonby began the second half where they left off and scored within the first minute after the restart through Josh Jacomb’s try, but they were also left to rue his two missed conversions that ricocheted off the woodwork later on.

Niven Longopoa extended Ponsonby’s lead to 17-5 when he crossed the line two minutes later along with a successful conversion, and it looked like they had done enough to wrestle the Cup away from Daveta.

But there was late drama as Daveta rallied in the final 150 seconds to turn the heat on their opponents under sweltering conditions.

Taniela Raubula converted his try before holding his nerve in the last minute to convert captain Luke Nadurutalo’s try and send the Daveta bench into raptures.

(Source:Strait Times Singapore)