A new triumph of Split rugby!
On a sunny Saturday, the Nada rugby club surpassed the Mladost rugby club in the decisive final game of the Croatian Championship. The Split team provided a more compact, firmer, faster and more efficient game throughout the final match. As the importance of the encounter and the fact that the Split club had a chance, Nada took the game in their hands once again, with high pressure on the players no different now than they have been over these 60 years, reports Split.com.hr on April 8, 2018.
The Croatian Cup conquerors expected a tough and demanding match from Mladost, who was much smaller, slower, less aggressive, and more predictable than the relaxed and cheerful Split team. The spectators were able to enjoy a true, solid, uncompromising and, for us Split fans, a relatively efficient final game.
Both clubs tested their power in the initial ten minutes of the encounter. Both teams were firm and compact and kept their lines, closing the opponent each time there was an attempt to break the path of the game. Lerotić, a player of the Split team, managed to move the game to the defensive half of the home team, putting pressure on the back line of Mladost with long, precision shots. With 12 minutes into the game, the Mladost players could smell Nada's victory in the air. Nada's players had an advantage with three very fast, precise goals, skillfully altering the side of the attack and allowing Perić to give the Split club a 0:5 lead. Rosso, from an awkward position from the left-hand side, successfully converted and increased the lead to 0:7. After eight minutes, Mladost had their first chance and in the 20th minute lessened the score gap to 3:7 from a penalty. The visitors played very hard and prepared clean, quality balls for their faster teammates on the line. They skillfully used Vlajcevič in the 27th and then Plažibat in the 33rd to give Split a lead of 3:17. Near the end of the first half, Mladost succeed in reducing the score to 8:17. It was a very dynamic, high quality and exciting first half.
In the first 12 minutes of the second half, there was an instant battle by both teams to dominate the field. There were constant contact and solid defensive plays from both clubs as they hoped to gain their team's advantage on the field. The hosts again fouled Rosso, and in the 52nd minute, Nada was ahead 8:20. The Split squad was consistently in the lead, but the players of Mladost did not dare give up. Both sides had bursts of energy, and the coaches of both teams tried to keep the rhythm to break their opponent.
The 59th minute saw a crucial breakthrough moment. After several unsuccessful attempts by Nada to break through the line of the game, Luka Lerotić pulled a ten-meter shot to increase Nada’s lead to 8:23. The home team's shock and deconstruction in the remaining 20 minutes of the final erupted when they realized they needed more than a few goals to win. However, with another goal by Plažibat two minutes later, Nada came to their most significant advantage at 8:28. Such a massive lead in a challenging final match isn’t easy to overcome by anyone.
In the 67th minute, the game was 13:28. The Split team, steeped in constant trophy battles, cleverly annulled all the significant efforts of the youngsters to reduce the score with a stable defensive hand in the last ten minutes. The sweetness at the very end of the match came from Luka Lerotić with another extraordinary hit for the final score of 13:31.
It was an impressive spectacle, and an undoubtedly deserved victory of the Split club. The title defenders, and at the same time the new Croatian Champions of Rugby, Nada Split was awarded the trophy by Mr. Mario Mudrinić - a representative of the Croatian Rugby Association. „Večeras je naša fešta“ was sang by the winning team on the bus ride home and at the cult Stari Plac - the Split Rugby House.
The numbers speak, and since its foundation in 1959, i.e. in their 59 years of existence, Nada has won a total of 34 titles of the State Championships and 23 titles of the Croatian Championships, out of which 16 were won consecutively since 2003.
