Having scored in the dying seconds to defeat defending premiers Gerringong the weekend prior, the Jets fought back to beat Shellharbour City 26-24 at Kiama Showground on Sunday.

Nowra survived an anxious moment though, a 50-metre penalty goal attempt from the Sharks’ Pat Moulton, with the breeze firmly behind him and after the final siren falling agonisingly short, ensuring the match didn’t reach golden-point territory.

The Jets, who led 18-8 at the break, will now meet minor premiers Warilla-Lake South in the season decider at Collegians Sports Centre on Sunday.

The opening tries from both sides underlined their respective strengths, Nowra utilising their superior speed and Shellharbour responding via their size and strength.

In just the fifth minute, the Jets attacked from the scrum-base and pivot Steve Brandon scored a scintillating solo try.

It was truly one for the highlight reel, Brandon displaying great speed and elusiveness to run 80 metres.

Sharks powerhouse Harold Snell barged over from close range to square the ledger at 6-all.

The teams exchanged penalty goals to once again be locked up by the half-hour mark.

A relieving penalty afforded the Jets a leg-up and Zac Kershaw’s four-pointer put them ahead.

Nowra received a slice of good fortune on the stroke of half-time when the Sharks were unable to clean-up an unfavourable bounce from a grubber-kick and Kurt Quinlan pounced and streaked away to score.

An upset appeared to be brewing, but a three-try Shellharbour blitz within the space of six minutes shortly after the resumption threatened to blow the game wide open.

Snell once again proved unstoppable from close range, and was in the action again from the next set, going straight through the middle.

Halfback Justin Rodrigues backed up, and Shellharbour had the lead for the first time, 20-18.

The Sharks’ forwards continued to steamroll their opponents, and Rodrigues’ second extended the buffer after a clever grubber-kick.

The Jets have displayed an ability to hang tough in the face of adversity all season, and managed to force the game into an arm wrestle again despite momentum seemingly being against them.

However, ill-advised attacking options squandered some promising Nowra chances.

In the 73rd minute it finally clicked, Mark Brandon crossing out wide, but missing the difficult conversion attempt had the Jets two points adrift.

With less than four minutes remaining, Nowra kept the ball alive and sent their supporters into raptures when Quinlan finished off the match-winner after backing up some good work by Nathan Falzon.

The conversion was waved away though, and a dangerous tackle infringement presented the Sharks an opportunity to send the match into extra-time, with Pat Moulton’s attempt from halfway unsuccessful.

Nowra will be boosted for the grand final by the return of captain-coach Ben Wellington.

“The boys have worked so hard, and we’ve made it hard on ourselves, but we just showed today that we’re nearly a complete side,” he said.

“We did have the lapse in our game when we leaked points and we just switched off, but to their credit they come home again like they did last week.

“I’ve never played in a team that has a switch-off like that, everyone just stops tackling and talking.

“It lasts for about five minutes, but as soon as we get back into our game we start rolling on again.

“It was tough kick for him (Moulton)… If anyone kicks it from that far out, they deserve it.”

He said they needed to “just play for the whole 80” to beat favourites Warilla.

“With our attack and the way our defence is working at the moment, if we don’t switch off we should be right.”

Matt Rouen, Quinlan, Nathan Deaves and Geoff Johnson were the standouts for Nowra, while Snell, Rodrigues and Craig Stapleton were the best for Shellharbour.