Avondale will play Shoalhaven in the Illawarra District Rugby Union grand final after "out-grinding" Tech-Tahs 12-9 at Ocean Park on Sunday.
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Avondale is the last team to win a full IDRU competition in 2019, and get the chance to secure a second straight title after earning another date at the "big dance" following their hard-fought victory over the Tahs.
They will play a Shoalhaven side who downed Shamrocks 22-0 on Saturday, in next Saturday's decider at WIN Stadium.
Avondale deserve their spot in the grand final after scoring two tries to none in their victory over the Tahs.
The Wombats though were behind for most of the match, only taking the lead when left-winger Willy Taiti-Taanoa crashed over in the 65th minute of the game.
Vaigafa Leota converted the try to end the scoring at 12-9.
The first half was a slug-fest dominated by defence. The Matt Evans-coached Tech-Tahs made the early running and jumped out to a 6-0 lead after only 10 minutes on the back of two penalty goals to Elia Morisio.
Avondale hooker Vaigafa Leota barged over for a try midway through the half to reduce the deficit to only one before the Tahs headed to the halftime break 9-5 to the good courtesy of another penalty goal to Morisio.
But there was only one team making the running in the second half, with a gallant Tahs doing well to hold-off the powerful Avondale side for so long.
Led by No 6 Tuumulilevao Taiti-Taanoa, the Wombats entrenched themselves close to the Tahs' tryline for most of the second stanza.
A visibly emotional Joe Aiona was full of praise for his side, especially the work of his forwards and gun No 6.
"It was a grind-out effort. It was a forwards' game and I'm just happy we get to play another GF next week," he said.
"[Taiti-Taanoa] was dominant, as he has been for years. I'm glad to have him on my side to be honest. I'm happy with the way the boys are going. We needed that grind.
"It's good to play a grand final again after COVID and all the other disruptions. It's good to actually play for something worthwhile.
"Shoalhaven deserve to be favourites, they are the premier team at the moment.
"It is going to be a tough assignment but we've knocked them off before and we will try and do it again."
Evans lamented what could have been had Tech-Tahs been better in its scrummage work.
"We couldn't handle that scrum. I don't know what the penalty count looks like but I think we gave away eight or nine penalties from scrums, which killed our game, but they were pretty good and made us pay," he said.
"The reality is our scrum was a problem today, but credit to them they were just better than us in that department and we just didn't get enough ball.
"We defended for long periods but just couldn't hold them out. We led for most of that game but they did pretty well to come through at the end there, so credit to them."
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
