The defending premier Steelers are one step closer to another Grand Final having taken down the Panthers 32-4 at Collegians on Sunday.
Courtney Crawford’s squad barely stepped a foot wrong as they cruised to a six-tries-to-one victory over the fourth-place Panthers.
Forward trio Trinity Tauaneai, Seriah Palepale, and Siu Richter were dominant for Illawarra as they stormed home to seal a memorable win on home soil.
Match: Steelers v Panthers
Finals Week 1 -
home Team
Steelers
away Team
Panthers
Venue: Collegians Sporting Complex, Wollongong
A well-placed Makayla McFayden kick-off forced a Penrith error on the opening play of the match and earnt the hosts an early attacking opportunity but the Panthers defence held firm.
A confident Kayla Henderson kick return sent the Steelers into scramble mode soon after only for Tahlia O’Brien to come up with a textbook tackle around the bootlaces to take the Penrith fullback over the sideline.
A penalty off the next set gifted Illawarra another attacking opportunity with halfback Herewaka Pohatu slicing through and hitting Sienna Leslie who dragged the Penrith cover over the line to nab first points and make it 4-0.
The Panthers were whistled for being offside from the corresponding kick-off with Pohatu laying on another four-pointer for the Steelers off it – this time poking her nose through before sending a pass over the top to winger Maddy Bullock who dove over in the right corner to improve the lead beyond a converted try.
Illawarra’s defence was again tested a little later but they managed to again push a Panther into touch to repel the raid.
The Steelers found a third shortly after with Billie Va’a sending her winger Charlotte Campbell over in the left corner after Tori Shipton had made a threatening dart off a scrum win.
Illawarra took a 12-0 lead into half-time having been unable to knock over any of their three conversion attempts from out wide.
The Panthers found a response early in the second stanza through Dejah Tuliau who took in a nice cut-out and dummied her way to the stripe as the deficit was cut back to 12-4.
The hosts snatched those points back moments later however with a sensational piece of O’Brien playmaking sending Va’a – who hit a perfect hole – through nearly untouched to cross.
Tauaneai knocked over Illawarra’s first conversion of the match to put them ahead 18-4 with a quarter of the clash to play.
Madison Hobbs was placed on report for a high shot soon after, but Rhian Yeo was able to pull off a one-on-one steal to earn possession back for the Steelers.
Palepale crashed over off it under the sticks thanks to some nice dummy half work courtesy of Shipton as the Steelers lead became an imposing one.
Campbell went close to finding another the following set but was denied by a desperate piece of Penrith scramble.
It looks like you may be using adblocking software to view this site.
Many features on the site, such as video playback, may not work properly when using adblocking software.
Please whitelist our domain or disable your adblocker to access all features and videos.
Tarsha Gale Cup Qualifying Final Highlights: Steelers v Panthers
Tauaneai slotted a gift penalty goal for the Steelers with less than 10 minutes to play as the scoreline grew out to 26-4.
The Steelers’ continued marching towards a dominant win with Richter the beneficiary of a spilt bomb which Bullock summed up nicely to put her second rower over in the right corner.
McFayden’s conversion attempt sailed over from right-hand touchline to put a bow on a strong Steelers win and secure a Preliminary Final berth.
