It won't go down as Hastings Valley Vikings' most polished performance, but it was still good enough to propel them into their eighth-straight Upper Mid North Coast Rugby Union grand final.
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The Vikings conceded the first try, but were always going to be hard to beat once they hit the front in the 34th minute of the 24-7 major semi-final win over Southern Cross University.
The 17-point win saw the Vikings book yet another season decider at Oxley Oval on August 27.
They rarely put numerous phases together throughout the contest which coach Hamish Mccormack simply put down to nerves.
"We get into our own heads - and it could be my fault as the coach - of wanting to host that grand final so much that sometimes you overthink it a little bit before you get into the game," he said.
"We might put a bit more pressure on ourselves to host that grand final, [but] that job's done now."
The Vikings are now one win away from their fifth premiership in the last seven completed seasons after COVID wiped out the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
"It's just good that it's here now," Mccormack said.
"We've got the easier job now to sit around and watch everyone else to see what they do and see who we play in two weeks time."
The match was Hastings Valley's fourth in 14 days and they will enjoy a well-earned week off as they look to defend their 2019 title.
"We're a bit of an older side so I don't think a week off anywhere hurts because it's been a long year this year," Mccormack said.
"We've played 15 games in 16 weeks."
Southern Cross opened the scoring through Simon Donald in the 15th minute, but that would prove to be their only try in a match that was dominated by the forwards.
Marlins co-coach AJ Gilbert lamented a lack of discipline as the key area they needed to improve after they gave away back-to-back-to-back penalties a number of times in the match.
They led directly to the Vikings' first-half tries courtesy of two rolling mauls that saw Hamish Mccormack and Agapei Eukaliti credited with the five-pointers.
"We just let ourselves down with discipline a couple of times in a row where we gave away three penalties and let them into the game and they scored on the back of a couple of rolling mauls," Gilbert said.
"We definitely let them dictate that. If we fix that discipline in two weeks' time (and) we get away next week, in two weeks' time we're hopefully in with a shot."
Southern Cross Uni will now play the winner of tomorrow's (August 14) Port Macquarie Pirates and Coffs Harbour Snappers minor semi-final.
Gilbert was not concerned about having to play another semi-final in order to earn another crack at the Vikings on the biggest day of the year.
"It's not ideal, but we did it in 2017," he said.
"We've definitely got the team to do it; we've just got a couple of week's of hard work in front of us."
For Hastings Valley, flanker Charlie Freeman was arguably their best while centre Kye Alpen celebrated his 100th game in style by doing did a stellar job in defence on the Marlins' Peter Uikelotu.
"Kye marked up against probably one of the biggest players on the field and didn't give him many options all day while defending," Mccormack said.
"Across the park everyone was good, but not great."
In the second grade major semi-final, Port Macquarie were the first team into their grand final with a heartstopping 21-20 win over Hastings Valley.
Hastings Valley Vikings 24 (tries: Hamish Mccormack, Agapei Eukaliti, David Kennedy, Rohan Toft; goals: David Kennedy 2/4 goals) defeated Southern Cross University Marlins 7 (tries: Simon Donald, goals: Oliver Canning 1/1, penalty goals: Oliver Canning 0/1).
