WARATAHS kept their grand final aspirations alive on Saturday with a rapturous 36-24 victory over Wagga City at Conolly Rugby Complex.

Forcing their way into Southern Inland Rugby Union title calculations, the Tahs were spirited and sharp to out-enthuse Boiled Lollies with the important victory.

A slow start came back to bite Boiled Lollies after letting the Tahs erupt to a 32-0 lead just after half-time before finally waking from its slumber to turn the whitewash into a contest.

With finals experience in spades, the Tahs stayed composed and enthusiastic to withstand a second half Boiled Lollies comeback that wasn’t enough to rock their massive head start.

Gearing up for the biggest clash of the season against CSU in the preliminary final on Saturday, Tahs coach Hugh Palmer said he can feel the team building towards something special.

“We’re starting to build at the right end of the season,” he said.

“I think in a lot of ways we’ve done a lot better than a lot of people thought we would – some people didn’t expect us to make the top division, so it would be nice to show them.”

Directed by a brilliant performance from halfback Sam Hobbs, the Tahs burst into the game to take a 25-0 lead at half-time before the Boiled Lollies had time to blink. Fast from the back of the ruck and aggressive in attack, the Tahs fought desperately to nullify the Boiled Lollies’ strike weapons, while the tenacity of Dan Selmes and Matt Binks sparked the dominance.

In classic semi-final conditions, tempers erupted in small doses throughout the contest, but the Tahs managed to stay composed enough to rattle the powerful Boiled Lollies.

Putting consistent pressure on the line, a try to Tahs centre Selmes took the lead to 32-0 in the 50th minute before two quick tries to Gordon Lagaali and Jarrod Bryant put the Boiled Lollies on the board.

The Boiled Lollies needed a huge comeback to compete and despite a double from Lagaali, fell short of the line.

Palmer said he’s now completely focused on bringing the Reddies unstuck in the qualifying final on Saturday.

“We’re pretty excited we’re playing Reddies, it’ll be a great game,” he said.

“They’ve got some pretty experienced guys in that team so it’ll definitely be interesting.”