Defending champions the Connecticut Wildcats have qualified for their fifth straight Grand Final with a 42-18 win against instate rivals the New Haven Warriors in the American National Rugby League semifinals Friday night in New York.

The Cats led narrowly 22-18 at halftime but stepped on the gas in the second forty to punch their ticket to Jacksonville, FL, next weekend.

Friday night’s semi was played in New York due to the field in Norwalk, CT, that is usually used by the Wildcats not being available very late in the piece. Pier 40, or the ‘Castle’ as it’s known colloquially by the New York Knights, whose home field it is, was the venue.

The Warriors got on the board early when Keith Nelson dotted down, then it was tit-for-tat as first one team would score and then the other would reply in kind, and that’s how play panned out in the opening stanza. The second period, however, was a much different story with the Cats storming home and snuffing out the Warriors’ championship game aspirations.

The ‘illusionist’ Damien O’Malveney paced the Cats to victory with a pair of tries, while his teammates Danny Bull and Matt Pittman likewise scored doubles. Captain/coach Tim Gee chimed in with a double, and was 5/8 with his goal kicking to ice the game for the Wildcats. Lock Ben Kelly had a blinder and was instrumental in laying the platform for the W, while Will Brazier earned everyone’s respect by returning to the fray in the second half after having his nose split open in the first forty, a legacy of an extremely tough encounter.

“They had our number in the first half,” Wildcats CEO Rich Portale told ARN. “They ran good patterns and they ran hard, but I think our fitness kicked in during the second half.”

New Haven, in only its second year in the AMNRL, was a gallant semifinalist and already is looking ahead to the 2008 season with a view to beefing up its roster. The Warriors try-scorers included Siose Muliumu (2), Derek Roma and Nelson, while Blair Wards booted one conversion on the night.

“It was a good effort and we scared them in the first half,” New Haven CEO Adam Hamon told ARN. “Our fitness let us down in the second half and that’s our season.”

The Connecticut Wildcats will be trying to make it a re-peat when they run on to the field at the University of North Florida in next weekend’s AMNRL Grand Final against the Aston DSC Bulls.