In time Niumataiwalu visited Matokano Village in Ono-i-Lau and a welcoming feast was accordingly prepared for him. This was also an occasion the two conspiring chiefs saw as an opportunity to exact the earlier instructions of the Vunivalu. As all weapons were forbidden in the area where the kava ceremony was to take place, Saunikalou hid a war club in a hollowed out banana stem and instructed his young son to play with it as a toy where the ceremony occurred. When the first appropriations of kava drink was being given to Niumataiwalu, unsuspecting he lowered his head, at which the same time Saunikalou grabbed the hidden weapon and struck him. The first blow did not kill Niumataiwalu, and he fled towards the beach in the hope of gaining aid from some of his men. He was however overpowered by Saunikalou and his men, and was clubbed to death.