The reigning premiers emerged victorious 12-8 at Cec Glenholmes Oval during their elimination semi-final.

Nowra will now meet Gerringong in a sudden-death encounter at Nowra Showground this Saturday.

The visitors scored three tries to one during the replay of last year's grand final.

It was a surprisingly low-scoring affair given the fire-power possessed by both sides.

The Gorillas enjoyed the better of field position throughout the opening stanza, and likely should have been further ahead than 6-4 at the interval.

However, passages of uncharacteristically disjointed attack at the money end of the field, combined with gritty Nowra goal-line defence proved vital.

A first half arm-wrestle ensued, and Warilla's Blake Colgan opened the scoring after 15 minutes.

The four-pointer followed a period of sustained pressure, and skipper Aaron Henry's clever pass.

Chad Lisch converted from out wide.

The Jets eventually cut the deficit to two points in the 33rd minute.

Matt Rouen powered his way across the stripe on the back of a slick series of passes.

John Carey's conversion attempt was waved away, but the visitors surely took solace from only being narrowly behind on the scoreboard at the oranges.

Carey was in the thick of the action shortly after the resumption, providing a great off-load for halfback Geoff Johnson, who in turn found speedster Keiran Brandon to touch down.

They were unable to extend their buffer via the conversion, and Lisch's penalty goal soon squared the ledger.

Three minutes later, Warilla's inability to clean up a Steve Brandon kick proved costly, as winger Isaac Mumberson pounced in the corner.

The Gorillas had a series of opportunities during the last quarter of the contest, but were left to rue some sub-par attacking options.

However, kudos to the Jets' defence, who on three separate occasions managed to hold Warilla players up over the try-line during the latter stages.

Rouen, Geoff Johnson, Nathan Falzon and Carey were Nowra's standouts, while Mark Walsh, Lisch and Joel Skeates performed strongly for Warilla.