An inspired Fijiana Drua came from 17-0 down to stun the NSW Waratahs 20-17 and advance to the Super W grand final on Sunday.
The defending champions appeared a lesser force in 2023, finishing the regular season with a 2-3 record and were hammered 31-5 by the Waratahs in round three.
A repeat seemed likely at Sydney’s Concord Oval as NSW – who went 5-0 to qualify top for the semi finals – led 17-0 after just 19 minutes through tries to Desiree Miller, Maya Stewart and Adiana Talakai.
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But the Waratahs were unable to breach the Drua defence from that point on as the Fijians showed enormous resolve to claw their way back into the contest.
Siteri Rasolea and Vani Arei scored tries to slash the deficit to 17-12 at half-time.
A Luisa Tisolo penalty then further increased the anxiety for Waratahs fans before centre Arei powered over for what proved to be the match winner in the 70th minute.
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Stewart burns Drua defence
“Of course, disappointed,” Waratahs captain Piper Duck told Stan Sport.
“Any game like this is what you trained for. And also we trained to make the grand final this year, but obviously, unfortunately, we didn’t. So, yeah, I was disappointed.
“I’m always proud of the girls, like they always work hard. Just a few unfortunate errors and the end of the day we just didn’t get over them. But yeah, extremely proud.”
The Drua also beat the Waratahs in last year’s grand final – the first time NSW had not won the Super W title.
“It was such a physical game,” Arei told Stan Sport.
“We’ve put in all we’ve got and I’m so happy for the girls.”
The Drua will now meet either the Queensland Reds or ACT Brumbies in Saturday’s grand final in Townsville.
The Reds host the Brumbies later on Sunday.
“Either team, we will not look down on them,” Arei said.
“They’re both strong teams. So we have to step up on our training and our preparation for next week.”
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