St George Illawarra have shot through to their first NRL Nines grand final after a stunning 8-6 win over tournament heavyweights Parramatta on Saturday.

Dragons centre Tim Lafai scored in the final minute of the game to steal the win at HBF Stadium, continuing their unlikely run through the tournament in Perth.

They will play undefeated North Queensland in the decider in front of a crowd of 14739.

Cowboys star Jason Taumalolo dominated the Gold Coast in their 19-8 semi-final win, while rising talent Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow further announced himself as a burgeoning NRL speedster with a sensational run-away try.

It was the Titans’ first loss of the tournament after a successful run through the preliminary rounds.

Earlier, Penrith were controversially knocked out of the NRL Nines when a clear no-try was awarded to Dragons rookie Cody Ramsey in the dying seconds of their quarter-final.

Ramsey was awarded his third try of the match in the 17-14 win, but replays showed the ball was planted in touch at HBF Stadium on Saturday.

NRL video referee technology is not used in the Nines format.

“It’s one of those 50-50 calls and hopefully we get a couple of 50-50s during the season to pay us back for that,” said Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary.

“I thought we didn’t play our best game and we put ourselves in that position ultimately.

“I thought we could have built in and given it a red hot crack but that’s not the way it goes, and good luck to the Dragons.”

While the loss was disappointing for the Panthers, Ramsey was thrilled to score a hat-trick on his 20th birthday.

“I thought I got it in, but that’s the ref’s call and I can’t do anything about it. It’s not up to me,” he said after the game.

The emerging young fullback was awarded the club’s under-20s player of the year award in 2019 and is pushing to land a full-time deal with the club.