A heart-stopping one-point victory over CSU eclipsed the final spot in the decider, a mission Palmer quietly believed in from the start of the SIRU season with the odds firmly stacked against him.

The gutsy victory was cause for riotous celebrations from the Tahs supporters as prop Harry Cook snatched the winning try in the dying minutes of the game to seal the win.

Pushed to the brink in the tough and desperate encounter, Tahs erupted as the final whistle signalled the end of a fairytale run to Saturday’s decider.

“It’s no different to any other finals I’ve ever played against Reddies back in my day,” Palmer admitted after the game.

“Our bench, we really cherish it because we lose nothing by the players we put on.

“I’m just so happy and proud of the boys for getting through to a grand final after the start of the season we had eight blokes showing up to training and everyone wrote us off, so to come away with this is amazing.”

Setting the stage for a riveting arm wrestle, Reddies scored in the opening five minutes before Tahs hit back with consecutive tries to lead 13-5 after 30 minutes of intensity.

A long range try to Reddies fullback Mitch Fealy narrowed the lead 13-10 heading into half-time, before Tahs came out swinging in the second half.

Matching Reddies spirited defence and potent back line, Tahs took several cracks at the line before halfback Sam Hobbs ducked from behind the ruck to score from two metres out to kick off the second half.

Try for try, Reddies winger Brett Wendt flew from the wing to beat several defenders and wrap around to score under the posts to get within a point, before Tahs counterpart John Andrews extend Tahs lead 25-17.

Two quick tries to Fealy and Brent Merritt captured the 29-25 lead for Reddies with five minutes on the clock, as Tahs muscled up the field with plenty of purpose to put Cook across the line to win.

Determined runs from Cook and captain Jock Munro put Tahs in all the right places, while back line stars Steve Tracey, Matt Binks and Dan Selmes looked dangerous with every touch of the ball.

“It was a really tough game for us, Reddies threw everything at us,” Palmer said.

“We lost our ten, Euan (Bonner) who’s been playing fantastic football.

“He’s done a hamstring, so not too sure what’s going on for next week.

“We’ve been hanging our hat on his style of play, so for us to come off and basically change our style to come away with that win.

“We played some good running rugby and the boys really stood up.”

The victory has booked a huge challenge for Tahs against undefeated Steamers in Saturday’s grand final.