The Rams will look back on a dominant, yet try-less, opening 20 minutes of their 18-10 semi-final defeat to defending premiers Central Coast Roosters as a decisive factor in their campaign coming to a close.

Roosters scored a pair of converted tries inside the last seven minutes of the opening half to stun a Rams side who had dominated every aspect of Saturday's match at Woy Woy.

Another stellar performance from Rams Taj Jordan saw the fullback find two tries early in the second half, pulling Western back within two points, but the visitors couldn't capitalise on the momentum.

Rams had brought the competition's most lethal offence into the semi-final but the proven Roosters defence was able to shut down nearly everything that came their way.

"We had a great start but you can't make that many mistakes and expect to win a footy game. That's all it comes down to, we cruelled ourselves with mistakes in key areas," Rams coach Tony Woolnough said.

"It's probably the worst performance that we've put in all campaign honestly. We just seemed a bit nervous and panicky, and it showed on the field.

"At this level it's about building pressure and not trying to score off every set of six that you have. That's what we were guilty of at times. Hopefully the boys learn from it.

"Losing in the final, at the very least, might have been a better gauge of where we were at. It's very disappointing to lose this semi. We just beat ourselves today."

The season has come to an end for the Rams under 16s but Woolnough is hopeful that the representative season can continue for several of his players in the NSW Country side.

"If our fullback Taj Jordan doesn't make it I'll give up I think. He had a great game in a beaten side," Woolnough said.

"I thought Logan Coombes has been tremendous throughout the campaign, and the same can be said for Cooper Townsend. If you're looking for a footballer I don't think you can get any tougher.

"He took some big hits today and he just keeps on coming and coming. He plays at the same level every week and doesn't leave anything in the tank."

Western dominated field position for the opening stanza of the game but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.

Rams second rower Logan Coombes and Jordon each made barnstorming runs out of their own half, only for their team to knock on at the end of those sets.

Jock Selwood looked to have put the Rams ahead in the 10^th minute when he dived across the try line from dummy half but lost the ball

The Western boys experienced deja vu in their next set when another big solo run from fullback Jordan ended up with another incompletion moments later.

The turning point came in the 19^th minute when a combination of another Rams error and a penalty to the Roosters swung momentum.

Despite being on the back foot for much of the opening half the Roosters would be rewarded for their defensive efforts when skipper Alexander Stephenson crashed through for the opening try.

Western gave away a fresh set of six inside their own 10 metres in the shadows of half-time and were punished when a dummy from Tulsyn McCulloch put him into space for another try.

Rams got off to a dream start to the closing half hour of play when Jordan got on the end of a Tristan Ross chip to score under the posts.

A big run from Western forward Ravai Tulevu and an offload to Bryson Read put the Rams deep into the Roosters half, and when Central Coast fullback Zaylen Ekepati didn't let go of Read quickly enough he found himself in the sin bin.

Rams immediately took advantage right away from the scrum, with some individual brilliant from Jordan putting him over in the left corner.

The missed conversion left the score at 12-10 in Central Coast's favour.

Errors crept back into the Rams game during their one-man advantage and they couldn't build on their early momentum.

As soon as Ekepati came back on the field Roosters made their way downfield and scored through star winger Semi Leweniqila with 11 minutes to go.

Nerves were easy to see over a tense end to the game as the Rams and Roosters traded knock ons.

The last roll of the dice for the Rams came with two minutes to go as they made a promising move to the left wing, only for a forward pass to end their hopes once and for all.

CENTRAL COAST ROOSTERS 18 (Alexander Stephenson, Tulsyn McCulloch, Semi Leweniqila tries; Owen Knowles 3 conversions) defeated WESTERN RAMS 10 (Taj Jordan 2 tries; Callum Miskell conversion)