Noah Lolesio boots Canberra Vikings to NRC decider

Then the heckles started. One by one, Fijian Drua supporters stamped their feet and yelled out in the hope of distracting the flyhalf from his mission.

But if there was any doubt, Lolesio put it to bed as he struck the football cleanly through the goalposts to keep the Vikings' championship charge alive.

Lolesio's magical boot sealed the Vikings' grinding 28-27 win over Fijian Drua at Viking Park on Sunday, sending them to their third grand final in five years. It completed a stunning comeback after the hosts trailed 22-0 at half-time.

"I knew if I stuck to my process the kick would take care of itself," Lolesio said.

"It was nerve-wracking but I'm just enjoying the moment. I stuck to the process and I'm pretty happy I got that kick in."

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Nick Scrivener's side will travel to Perth to meet the Western Force in the championship decider next week, with both teams eyeing their maiden title.

The minor premiers secured the hosting rights after beating Brisbane City 42-38 on Saturday and remain undefeated at home.

The Vikings' trip to Western Australia left the tourists with their heads hung low after suffering a 45-28 defeat at UWA Sports Park.

But Canberra turned their season around when they returned to Viking Park, leaving Lolesio full of confidence heading into the decider.

"We started off pretty well [against the Western Force] but let it slip in the second half," Lolesio said.

"It was really good to see we've changed that around, so hopefully we can play for the full 80minutes next week."

It took the Drua just four minutes to break the deadlock when a penalty against Pete Samu gave Fiji a chance to mark the scoreboard.

Enele Malele's penalty goal sparked a 40-minute Fijian frenzy as the Drua flew through gaps and broke down Canberra's defensive wall to surge ahead to a 22-point lead.

The Canberrans struggled to gain momentum and shift possession into their attacking half while the Fijians crunched down any glimpse of hope.

"We all knew at half-time that we weren't our best," Lolesio said.

"I felt like we were playing too slow and too basic. We decided to change it up at half-time to play off a bit more, shift one pass to the forwards and play out the back straight away. We took them to the edge because we have really fast backs.

"It really helped having a good start to the second half. We wanted to play our game, play fast, nice and flat, and do what we do best, score tries."

Fiji scored three of the first four tries and it ended four apiece but conversions proved the difference with Lolesio and Ryan Lonergan kicking at 100 per cent.

Canberra fought their way back into the game after Tom Wright and Angus Allen scored two tries within the first eight minutes after the break.

A double to the winger narrowed down the Drua's lead to one point but Fiji took back control and bullied the Vikings when they won consecutive penalties and built momentum.

The Fijian side looked like they had sealed the match when Ratunasia Nauma dived over to score in the 63^rd minute.

But Wallaby Tom Banks turned the tide with a try after the 80^th minute to set up Lolesio's winning goal.

"I'm really proud of the guys," Scrivener said.

"We were pretty poor, especially in that first half, but they composed themselves, got back to doing some basic stuff and worked hard in the second half. We're really pleased we didn't throw the towel in."

NRC SEMI-FINAL

CANBERRA VIKINGS 28 (Wright 2, Allen, Banks tries; Lonergan 3, Lolesio cons) bt FIJIAN DRUA 27 (Naulago, Vularika, Ikanivere, Nauma tries; Malele 2 cons, 1 pen).