Collegians have booked their place in the Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup Grand Final after a comprehensive 24-6 win over De La Salle in the Major Semi-final at Collegians Sports Stadium on Saturday. It was a gritty defensive performance by Collegians who restricted the Minor Premiers to only one try and kept them scoreless in the second half.
Collegians will now head straight to the Grand Final where they will face the winner of De La Salle and Thirroul Butchers, who scored a thrilling 18-16 win over Western Suburbs Devils in the Minor Semi-final.
De La Salle started the match in strong fashion after Trentham Petersen scored in the corner and Eli Levido knocked over the conversion for a 6-0 lead. Collegians took advantage of a series of penalties for Blake Dowell to cross the try line and level the scores at 6-all after a successful conversion.
The teams traded sets for the next 15 minutes until a floating pass from Collegians five-eighth, Max Devlin found winger, Sam McCann, who scored in the corner untouched to give his team the lead for the first time at 12-6. Collegians made it consecutive tries when McCann made a clean break down the sideline before finding fullback Callum Gromek in support to finish the job.
De La Salle regrouped and worked their way upfield but were unable to convert the pressure into points. Collegians made them pay after receiving a relieving penalty and capitalising with points through Campbell Rubie to take a comfortable lead into half-time.
De La Salle had opportunities to score in the second half but the Collegians defence held firm to turn them away empty-handed. They added salt to the wound after landing a penalty goal in the final minutes to secure the win and book their place in the decider.
Butchers prevail over fast-finishing Devils
Thirroul Butchers scored a thrilling 18-16 win over Western Suburbs Devils in the Minor Semi-final of the Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup at Collegians Stadium. Thirroul will now move through to the Preliminary Final of the competition next weekend while Western Suburbs season has now come to an end.
The Butchers got off to a perfect start after Tarje Whitford scored and backed that up when Steve Marsters made a swift catch and pass for Josh Martin to touch down. Western Suburbs stayed in touch through Jy Hitchcox but the Butchers maintained some breathing space when Jye Patterson scored. Hitchcox grabbed his second try to keep the Devils in touch and have them trailing 14-10 heading into the half-time break.
With the season on the line for both teams, the second half was even more intense with Whitford grabbing his second try to give the Butchers some breathing space. The Devils set up a grandstand finish when Hitchcox grabbed his third try for the afternoon after beating some tired forwards. Coby Pellow landed the conversion to leave them two points down with two minutes on the clock.
It set up a frantic finish which brought the crowd alive at Collegians Stadium but the Butchers defence held firm to secure their spot in the second week of the finals.
The Lower Grade Wrap
In Mojo Homes First Division, Wests are the first team through to the Grand Final, defeating Collegians 24-10 in the Major Semi-Final. Collies meet Corrimal in next week’s Prelim Final after the Cougars accounted for Helensburgh 24-22 in their sudden-death Minor Semi.
In the U18s, Collegians snuck home 27-26 over Wests in a nail-biter to go straight to the Grand Final. The Butchers will take on the Devils in next week’s Prelim after a comprehensive 48-6 win over Berkeley.
Elsewhere, minor premiers Berkeley continued their undefeated run this season with a 16-0 win over Figtree, sending the Crushers to next week’s penultimate game with Avondale, who beat Windang 26-22.
Women and Girls Tackle
Stingrays have upset premiership favourites Milton-Ulladulla 20-10 on their home turf to advance to the inaugural Southern Corridor Open Women’s Tackle Grand Final.
Elsewhere, Como-Jannali did likewise to hosts Corrimal at Ziems Park with a 20-12 victory, scoring three tries to one.
In the Under 18s, Collegians defeated the Cougars 18-16, setting up a Grand Final clash with Stingrays, who finished the regular season as Minor Premiers.
Illawarra Rugby League | Preliminary Finals | Collegians Sports Complex, Figtree Saturday 26th August
- Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup – 3pm – De La Salle v Thirroul
- Mojo Homes First Division – 1:30pm – Collegians v Corrimal
- Harrigan 2nd Division Shield – 12:00pm – Figtree v Avondale
- Mojo Homes U18’s – 10:30am – Wests v Thirroul
Southern Corridor Open Women and Girls | Grand Finals | Sunday, 27 August
- Open Women’s Tackle | Como Jannalli v Stingrays
- Under 18s | Stingrays v Collegians
Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup reports Courtesy NSWRL
Words | Emily Chate & Scarlett Box