By Braydon Lindsay

Pleasant Point had two men to thank for their thrilling 24-23 Hamersley Cup semifinal victory over Waimate at the Pleasant Point Domain.

Luke Brice towered above the Waimate lineout to steal the ball for Point, then a few phases later a penalty was awarded and first-five Brad Tegelaars stepped up to calmly slot the match winning goal.

He missed a tough effort two minutes earlier but fortunately was given another chance from an easier position.

With less than 10 minutes to go Waimate had a seven point lead and looked destined for the final, in a match that was played in front of more than 500 spectators.

Pleasant Point coach Kelly Walsh said it was nice for his team to get over the line.

"For once we were able to steal one at the death because quite often we have been on the opposite side of those matches."

He said Point showed great fight to comeback from a strong Waimate start.

"We didn't play our best rugby but the boys to their credit stuck at it and we managed to get over the line."

Walsh said the support of the wives, girlfriends, partners and the community was massive.

"We haven't seen a crowd that big at the Domain for some time and the banners of support helped massively.

"Waimate had a number of fans travel up as well which added to the occasion."

The midfield pairing of Shane Spiers and Kevin Moore were outstanding, while Luke Brice and the Groundwater brothers, Ben and Daniel, powered through a mountain of work.

Kieran Coll, South Canterbury's 2015 Heartland captain, who had signed to play for Point earlier in the season, returned from injury for the crunch encounter and made a big impact.

"Jake [Mills] was carrying a bit of a niggle and that allowed us to add Kieran to the bench."

Walsh said it was nice the club had two teams playing in finals next weekend.

"It is something the club will really embrace, it's a good thing to have," he said.

"We are going into next weekend's final against Celtic under no pressure. We're not the ones going for our eighth title."

Waimate coach Willy Guyton was disappointed for his team.

"It's the one match we probably deserved to win and we didn't. Rugby is about scoring more points than your opposition and they did that.

"We blew a couple of try scoring chances."

Guyton was proud his of team and the effort put in over the last couple of months.

"The seven or eight weeks have been great. The guys have been superb and really played some good rugby. Our core group of 18 players will hopefully return next year."

He said Waimate may have been struggling for a team if they made next weekend's final.

"Don's [Lolo] ankle was very swollen. I don't think he'd have been right. Miles [Medlicott] suffered a head knock I believe, and Toko [Tokoma'ata Fakatava] was carrying an injury."

Guyton wished Point all the best for the final next weekend.

Shay Moseby bought up 100 points for the season with a well taken drop goal to open the scoring, however Waimate dotted down for the game's first try.

A Jared Matthews offload freed up Mosese Aho, who fended off a couple of tackles and dotted down.

A penalty and a Henry Bryce try had them up by 10 before Tegelaars reduced the deficit to seven with a well struck penalty.

He added a second penalty soon after halftime to close the gap to four, then midway through the second half replacement loose forward Kieran Coll made his presence felt.

He burst through a hole close to the line to score for Point and give them the lead for the first time.

The lead was short lived as Jade Halkett scored a fabulous try for Waimate following some great offloading, before Theo Davidson kicked a monster penalty to push the visitors lead to seven with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Maxx Morris showed up his opposite with a superb in out to score out wide. A missed conversion had the deficit at two with time quickly running out.

Tegelaars missed his first penalty shot but calmly wiped it out of his mind to kick the second.

Waimate's best were Aho, Simon Bleeker and Conor McCormack in the forwards, while Matthews, Medlicott, Colin Ryan and Kieran Moffat were the best backs.

The final next weekend will once again see brothers Kelly and Nigel Walsh face off in their first Hamersley Cup final coaching duel.

Meanwhile, Mackenzie defeated Harlequins 28-18 at Alpine Energy Stadium to claim the Scott Cup.

AT A GLANCE

Pleasant Point 24 (Kieran Coll, Maxx Morris tries; Brad Tegelaars con, 3 pens, Shay Moseby drop goal) Waimate 23 (Mosese Aho, Henry Bryce, Jade Halkett tries; Theo Davidson con, 2 pen) HT 6-13.