The Bulls were aided by a 12-3 penalty count as they overcame a slow start to take a 34-22 victory and book a place in the grand final on September 11.

It is the fourth time in the last six years that Southcity have worked their way through to the decider and captain-coach Nick Skinner is looking to atone for the club’s disastrous grand final in 2014, which ended in a 45-4 loss to Albury.

“I was very happy with the effort everyone put in in that second half but it is only half done though," Skinner said.

“There is one more game.”

After being knocked out by Junee in last year’s preliminary final, getting through to another grand final has been a big focus for the club.

“We have a good group of blokes who have been working towards that more or less since I took over last year,” Skinner said.

“The boys are pretty excited to get the opportunity to play in a grand final again.”

Gundagai jumped out to a 16-6 lead after 28 minutes when Mat Rose just beat Jade Hodge to the ball to score following an error from Cody Hodge.

It was the second time the youngster’s inability to control a high ball led to points after Dylan Cole opened the scoring off his mistake.

However the Bulls scored an important try six minutes out from the break, when Ethan McGuire’s kick found Nick Skinner back in field, to take some momentum into the break.

McGuire scored  an acrobatic effort of his own to put the Bulls in front after 51 minutes before tries to Kyle McCarthy and Mitch Curran gave the Bulls a 12-point buffer with 14 minutes left.

Gundagai responded through fullback Dane O’Hehir, who broke out of three tackles to score his second four minutes later

O’Hehir was the Tigers’ biggest attacking weapon throughout the game but they couldn’t sustain the pressure.

Off the kick return Joel Field was bundled into touch and on the following set McCarthy put Jack Lyons over to ice the victory.

“It was hot, they have a good forward pack and they probably got a bit of a roll on but we knew if we hung in there we would be able to put some points on,” Skinner said.

“I was pretty happy with the character the boys showed.”

After a week off before the clash, the Bulls will have another week off before the decider.

Skinner thought it was a good opportunity to rest a couple of sore bodies.

The concern lies with fullback Jade Hodge injured his knee in the second half and very gingerly walked into the sheds  while Brent Snowden picked up a shoulder injury.