In front of a packed crowd at the Balclutha Showgrounds, the home side had to withstand a barrage of attack from a determined West Taieri team.
Clutha showed their true heart and determination as they won 28-25 after being behind at halftime.
West Taieri flew out of the blocks and had the crowd in stunned silence as they opened their account through lock Bug Tisdall, who crossed over on the back of a dominant lineout drive.
West Taieri’s set piece was strong at the start with their scrum especially causing Clutha plenty of headaches.
The Pigs had their tails up early and scored again through centre Ratu Karamaena, who found space out wide.
Callum Smeaton’s second conversion attempt went awry and West Taieri held a 10-0 lead after 15 minutes.
Clutha did not take long to get into their work and managed to string phases together inside their attacking third.
The forwards did the grunt work up the middle which sucked in the West Taieri defence before they spun it wide, where Junior Samuelu crossed for his 15th try of the season.
The game turned a bit sloppy from there with both sides unable to control possession and gifting opportunities to the other.
Clutha halfback Sam Stratford slotted a penalty to narrow the margin before West Taieri flanker Conner Jenkins stole the limelight.
Jenkins forced a turnover at the ruck before diving on a loose ball, getting to his feet and weaving in and out of the Clutha defence to score in the outside channels.
Stratford kicked over another penalty before halftime as West Taieri went into the break 15-11 ahead.
The second half started in the best possible fashion for Clutha, who scored a try inside the opening two minutes.
Flanker Sam Viliamu charged down a Smeaton attempted clearance, recovered the ball and scurried away to score under the posts.
Stratford made no mistake with the conversion, and Clutha took the lead for the first time, 18-15.
The next scoring play came courtesy of West Taieri halfback Jackson Reid, who showed some slick footwork and an offload to give flanker Liam Turnbull an easy try, and Smeaton finally slotted a goal to extend the score.
West Taieri’s dominance continued, and Smeaton converted a penalty to give them a 25-18 lead with less than 15 minutes remaining.
Clutha made the most of the holes left open from a tiring West Taieri defence, and winger Samuelu managed to find space for his second try, which Stratford converted to level the scores.
Clutha were now on a roll, and an offside penalty allowed Stratford to put them in front with less than 10 minutes to play.
West Taieri rolled up their sleeves and, thanks to some basic handling errors by the Steamers, set up siege in Clutha’s half.
West Taieri turned down three shots at goal as they backed their set piece to do the job for them.
Clutha had different ideas, however, and repelled every single attack.
Clutha’s defensive lineout was immense towards the end and two key turnovers by lock Tate Colley in the dying stages helped the Steamers claim a hard-fought and emotional win.
"We had a few basic handling mistakes, which you just cannot afford against a strong, tight team like Wests," Steamers head coach Ben Keach said.
"Just nerves, I think, but we got over that in the nick of time and now I might get a get a decent night's sleep myself for the first time in a couple of weeks."
In the Balclutha Nissan Trophy curtain-raiser, Owaka beat Lawrence 33-13.
Southern final
The scores
Clutha 28
Junior Samuelu 2, Sam Viliamu tries; Sam Stratford 2 con, 3 pen.
West Taieri 25
Bug Tisdall, Ratu Karamaena, Connor Jenkins, Liam Turnbull tries; Callum Smeaton con, pen
Halftime: West Taieri 15-11.
— Francis Parker
