Fill-in flyhalf Scott Gale piloted University of Queensland into a sixth straight grand final after a tense 29-24 duel against old foes Brothers on Saturday.
A September 5 decider on Father's Day at Suncorp Stadium now awaits Uni after they came from behind three times to win the sudden-death semi-final.
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Queensland’s revised Hospital Challenge Cup finals draw stripped minor premiers Uni of any second chance benefit so it was all-or-nothing at Ashgrove’s Yoku Road on a perfect afternoon for rugby.
Brothers jumped to a 14-3 lead and led 17-15 approaching the hour-mark when Gale gained the momentum for Uni.
A big right-foot sidestep speared him over beside the posts to take maximum advantage of Brothers being down to 14 men because of the yellow card to Reds inside centre Hamish Stewart.
Gale was originally listed to be reserve halfback for the semi-final but coach Mick Heenan had to think quickly when first-choice flyhalf Brad Twidale tweaked a hamstring midway through last Thursday night’s training session.
“Scott stepped up late but we have great confidence in him whether it’s at flyhalf, halfback or fullback,” Heenan said.
“We knew it was going to be a challenging game because Brothers put out probably their best team of the season.”
Brothers regained the lead with seven minutes to play when Stewart dabbed a pinpoint cross-kick into the arms of winger Nathan Carroll.
Fullback Lawson Creighton’s angled conversion for 24-22 gave Brothers a whiff of a major boilover but Uni had a final ace to play.
After a rumbling build-up got Uni on the front foot, flanker Conor Mitchell fed a terrific one-handed offload to Reds halfback Kalani Thomas.
Thomas scooted, stepped inside rival halfback Joe Powell and fended off two would-be tacklers to dash over for the winning try.
It’s been some year already for Thomas, just 19. He threw the final pass to James O’Connor when the Super Rugby AU title was won in May and has lapped up his first season at the Reds. He might just have learnt one thing from Powell...to snap his passes out instantly from the ruckbase rather than ponder.
“This is my first taste of Premier Grade semi-finals. There’s more pressure but that was a great effort from all the boys,” Thomas said.
“Joe plays for the Melbourne Rebels and he showed what he can do leading his team around all the time. I enjoyed playing against him.”
Gale picked himself up after copping an accidental knock to the left side of his face which left a sizeable egg on his cheekbone.
“I’m happy to play the ‘Mr Fix-It' man. I’ve played in a lot of different teams and had time overseas (in Japan and the US) but the one constant is Uni. I love the club,” Gale said.
“I knew Brothers were going to take it to us and they did. Now for the grand final.”
Gale has two premierships (2012 and 2014) but former Wallabies skipper Stephen Moore is still chasing his first.
Moore, 38, came on for the final 13 minutes to keep up Uni’s strong scrum presence which was a key all afternoon. Young prop Alex Davies did a fine job.
Moore replaced another former Wallaby, James Hanson, who threw the final pass for the key Kye Oates try on half-time that cut the score to 14-8.
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Again, Brothers were defending with just 14 men with Reds prop Harry Hoopert in the sin bin because of an infringement on the tryline.
Brothers got the jump early in the stop-start affair. A fine long pass from Powell sent centre Hudson Creighton over.
It was 14-3 when flyhalf Paddy James showed great poise when taking on the line. He kept moving forward with two defenders draped on him and dished a fine offload to winger Billy Bulley, who sped on the diagonal to the tryline.
University will meet the winner of Sunday’s GPS v Wests semi-final in the grand final.
UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND 29 (K Thomas, S Gale, I Halaholo, K Oates tries; K Oates 3 con, pen goal) bt BROTHERS 24 (B Bulley, N Carroll, H Creighton tries; Creighton 3 con, pen goal)
