WATCH REPLAY: Steely Tigers take down Illawarra in Tarsha Gale Cup elimination final

Wests are one game away from a Tarsha Gale Cup grand final after a tough win against the Illawarra Steelers. Watch the full-match replay.

The Wests Tigers produced a gritty 60 minutes of football do oust the Steelers in the Tarsha Gale Cup elimination final at Wentworthville’s Ringrose Park.

The Tigers were slow out of the blocks, but a grinding effort saw the David Fauonuku’s charges claim an 8 to 4 win in the Good Friday contest.

Illawarra winger Lilli O‘Dea flew over in the third minute as the southerners dominated the opening 20 minutes of play.

Some hard running led to Wests beating Illawarra in Tarsha Gale Cup do-or-die final.Picture: Richard Dobson

From there, Wests forwards, led by second rower Tehillah Vaeluaga, managed to gain the ascendency which they capitalised on with no.2 Maraia Rorocla going over in the left corner.

WATCH THE REPLAY IN THE VIDEO PLAYER AT THE TOP

Wests continued to control the match into the second half with Vaeluaga’s back row partner Imogen Gobran crashing over for a four-pointer in the 36th minute.

The Steelers tried to fight back to level the match, however, poor handling meant the side were never able to mount a comeback.

Wests Tigers hooker Mia Taylor . Picture: Richard Dobson

“The Steelers are always a tough side,” Fauonuku said after the match.

“You don’t win two of these things for no reason, we knew it was going to be a tight affair this morning.

“In the start of the match we just weren’t matching them for enthusiasm so I told the girls they were a bit excited early and that if we got back to our structures we would fight our way back into the game and that’s what happened.

“I am confident in our group. It will be a tough game next week whether it’s the Eels or the Roosters, but as we all know in semi finals footy anything can happen.”

MATCH PREVIEW

There’s no team hungrier for a Tarsha Gale premiership than West Tigers after four years of finals heartbreaks.

Pioneers of the under-19s women’s rugby league competition, the Tigers have had a taste of finals footy every year since 2018, and once again are chasing their fairytale grand final swan song.

In an elimination final which will be exclusively live streamed by The Daily Telegraph, long-serving coach David Fauonuku believes his Tigers have the talent and firepower to beat Illawarra Steelers and push for a title at Sydney’s Ringrose Park on Friday.

“We’d love to break our duck and get our maiden grand final win in the Tarsha Gale and in the female space as well,” Fauonuku told The Daily Telegraph.

“Obviously it’s a very tough competition at the moment with the roosters setting the benchmark but we can only worry about what’s in front of us and that’s Alicia (Coach) and her Steelers.”

With a Tarsha Gale outfit brimming with talent, returning skipper and blockbusting lock Eliza Siilata is among a core group of Tigers players that will headline the black and orange finals campaign.

“We’re very fortunate at the moment, we’ve got our captain Eliza Siilata back, who’s been out for the last six weeks with a broken hand,” Fauonuku said.

The Tigers’ Tarsha Gale Cup side are hoping to progress to the second week of the finals. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“Outside of Eliza being back, Losana Lutu is our nine and half and she’s been in great form.

“Folau Vaki our front rower, is our only origin player from last year has backed up again and she’s been massive for us in the middle.

“And our fullback Shelby Muir, Shelby’s been in our system now for five years so she’s also someone that the girls look up to and she stepped into the skipper role when Eliza was out.”

A big focus for the Tigers will be shutting down Steelers star hooker Salma Nour who has terrorised sides in the year’s Tarsha Gale competition, scoring a hat-trick on two occasions this season.

“We’re just going to have to make sure that we can look to contain her and if we could hold her to not scoring a hat trick that would be great,” Fauonuku said.

“But obviously with someone of her calibre we just need to make sure we keep tight around the back, pay attention to detail and not give her too much space.”

The Tigers-Steelers Tarsha Gale Cup final will be live streamed exclusively on The Daily Telegraph website, kicking off at 10am Friday.

Originally published as WATCH REPLAY: Steely Tigers take down Illawarra in Tarsha Gale Cup elimination final