Aber Valley Wolves beat Cardiff City 32-30 on August 5, with James Hallett kicked the winning conversion after the final whistle to put Aber Valley Wolves into the Welsh Grand Final.
It’s set up a repeat of last year’s encounter as the Wolves will now meet Bridgend Blue Bulls in the final at Taff’s Well RFC on Sunday August 16.
It looked like two tries from Cardiff RL club founder Chris True would have been enough to put his side through as with five minutes to go, the capital side were leading 30-20.
But Aber Valley showed their resilience and fought for their win in front of a home crowd in Senghenydd.
The Wolves took the lead on 13 minutes after Gareth Hutcherson went over from dummy half. James Hallett’s kick was wide.
Four minutes later Tom Mace went over from dummy half to level things.
Then on 22 minutes, from a scrum on his own 10 metre, Darryl Skym ran the length of the field to give Aber Valley the lead back. Hallett converted to make it 10-4.
The drama continued. Five minutes later, following a quick penalty True dived over and Tom Mace converted to make it 10-10.
On the half hour, Sion Jones ran down the wing to make it 14-10 to Wolves before a Duane Iles try for Cardiff levelled things at 14-all at the break.
Cardiff took the lead for the first time in the game after just two minutes of the second half after South Wales Scorpions dual registration player Barrie Phillips ran over with Dan Henderson converting.
The capital side were putting Aber Valley under the cosh and it took them 13 minutes to level the scores after Rhys Hutcherson dived over from close range with Hallett converted.
Into the last quarter of the game and Cardiff continued to dominate. On 62 minutes, Sam Herron sprinted down the wing to give Cardiff the lead back. Henderson converted.
And when True caught a high bomb to make it 30-20, it looked like it would be a repeat of the 2006 Final when Cardiff met Bridgend.
But Aber Valley had other ideas. Dai Davies scored in the corner on 76 minutes that was brilliantly converted by Hallett.
With 90 seconds to go, the Wolves started a set on their own 10 metre line and then on the final play Dylan Reed scored in the corner to level it at 30-all.
The crowd hushed as Hallett stepped up for his final and most difficult kick of the game, and then erupted seconds later as Aber Valley were in the Final.
The curtain raiser saw Aber Valley Wolves’ under 14 side beat Bridgend Blue Bulls 26-14 to give them a Grand Final place against Llanharan-based SW Rabbitohs.