Waratahs continued their domination of Wagga City to lock in a third Southern Inland grand final appearance in as many seasons.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The premiers made it 10 straight wins over their Wagga rivals with a 54-26 victory in the preliminary final at Conolly Rugby Complex on Saturday.
Their forwards created too much havoc for an under-strength Wagga City outfit as Waratahs ran in eight tries to four to set up another clash with Leeton.
Four came in the second half as Waratahs wore down some early resistance from the Boiled Lollies
Coach Angus Macleod was pleased with the team’s effort.
“It is always pleasant to be in the grand final,” Macleod said.
“There is 80 minutes of football so plenty of things can happen, and we had lapses, but credit to City they are a good side.”
The Phantoms are the only side to get the better of Waratahs this season and will take a 3-0 record into the decider this season.
Despite a 66-27 loss in the major semi-final, Macleod doesn't think his team is too far away.
“It think we showed last week in the first 50 minutes that we were certainly in the game then,” he said.
“We just have to continue that for the full 80.
"We will just have to work hard on the particular aspects we need to work on, essentially tackling.
"We can’t let them bust through tackles.
“First up tackles are going to be the most important thing next week.”
He thought it was was an area that improved on Saturday.
Waratahs got off to the perfect start when James Daley crashed over to score, however Wagga City were quick to respond through Jayden Stanton.
Waratahs really started to assert their dominance through tries to Jock Munro, Sam Bunny and Joe Mullany to lead 28-14 before Vili Cavuca scored right on half-time to see Wagga City trail 28-14 at the break.
Wagga City then made it a nine-point ball game when Jesse Uhr finished off a break by Cavuca.
But from there on it was all Waratahs.
Two in two minutes ended any real chance of a comeback as Euan Bonner and Dave Armstrong scored in quick succession.
Stanton, who was City’s best, capitalised on a mistake on the back to score before tries to Harry Hosegood and Dan Selmes sealed the important win for Waratahs.
Just like last season, Waratahs have the chance to win all three men’s grand finals after seconds and thirds won through on Saturday.
Despite their best ever results, their women’s sevens fell one win short of the decider after going down to premiers Leeton.
Macleod said it was a good day for the club.
