All things being equal, the mighty Campbelltown Harlequins would be enjoying a rest this weekend, waiting to find out who they would play in the 2025 Illawarra rugby premiership grand final.
Instead, as our rugby correspondent, ANDREW CHOICE, reports, the boys from Campbelltown head down south to take on Shoalhaven in a sudden death semi final to see who goes through to the big dance a week later.
Kiama, who toppled the Harlequins in the major semi final last Saturday, are the ones now enjoying a week off after inflicting Campbelltown’s second defeat of the entire season.
After securing the minor premiership, Campbelltown came back down to earth after their 38-26 loss to Kiama.
Playing into a strong wind, Harlequins played without the ball for the first 10 minutes of the game.
But while their defense remained resolute, eventually Kiama was awarded a penalty goal after minutes of sustained attack to lead 3-0.
Quins finally got some ball and began to show why they were minor premiers scoring back to back tries to lead 12-3.
Kiama rallied late in the half to pull the score back to 12-10, however Harlequins responded immediately through their class centre pairing of Faiva Favia and Ben Faavae to lead 19-10 at half time.
Running with the breeze in the second half the Harlequins supporters in the crowd would have been quietly confident.
However, Kiama started like they did in the first half, retaining the ball and playing with great enthusiasm to score after eight minutes to close the gap to only two points.
Despite not playing with the same structure and authority as the first half, Harlequin were able to score a break out try on the back of a great run from lock Ben Movik pushing the lead to 26-17.
Kiama would not go away and scored within minutes to get reduce the deficit, trailing 26-24.
With 10 minutes to go a tired Quinns outfit surrendered the lead to Kiama to trail 31-26.
Chasing the game, Quins leaked another try to lose 38-26.
While the final result was four tries apiece, Kiama’s goal kicking proved the difference in the end.
MAJOR SEMI FINALS AT KIAMA – SATURDAY – FIRST GRADE:
Kiama 38 Defeated Campbelltown Harlequins 26
SECOND GRADE:
Kiama 31 Defeated Shoalhaven 21
MINOR SEMI FINALS AT SHOALHAVEN – SUNDAY – FIRST GRADE:
Shoalhaven 53 Defeated Vikings 22
SECOND GRADE:
Shamrocks 30 Defeated Bowral 25
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 6 AT SHOALHAVEN
First Grade:
Campbelltown Harlequins V Shoalhaven
Second Grade:
Shoalhaven V Shamrocks