Accor Stadium: Latrell Mitchell bagged a double and Cody Walker threw a brilliant final pass for Isiah Tass to score the Rabbitohs’ match-winner in a Thursday night epic against Penrith.
The Panthers looked set for another high-quality victory over South Sydney when Stephen Crichton crashed over for his third try with nine minutes remaining.
But when a Lachie Ilias kick eventually came down into the hands of Mitchell, the huge Souths crowd sensed an upset was brewing at Accor Stadium.
On the final play of what would have been their last set, Souths went left with Walker firing a pass to Tass to run 30m to score.
Tass would have loved posting the four-pointer and 20-18 win after he had spent the past 24 hours reading that Jack Wighton might be on his way to Redfern to take his left-centre spot the next few years.
The Panthers had done a remarkable job to pull in front. Crichton crashed over just before half-time to level the scores. He ignored the noise from the heaving Souths locals to convert his own try from the sideline.
Latrell Mitchell and Nathan Cleary were locked in a running battle on Thursday night.Credit: NRL Photos
The reigning champs had soaked up plenty of pressure and made nearly 60 more tackles than Souths, but went to the sheds at 6-all.
A couple of rare Souths errors were immediately punished by the two-time premiers in the second half, including a Mitchell knock-on that paved the way for Crichton to score his second. And Crichton was over again when Jed Cartwright spilled the ball while trying to squeeze a pass.
Crichton scored all of Penrith’s 18 points because a groin injury prevented Cleary from goal-kicking duties.
These two Sydney powerhouses have played some top-notch games, and the latest edition did not disappoint.
Cody walker and Isaiah Tass celebrate with their team after getting a try in the final two minutes of the game.Credit: Getty
Mitchell was in a real mood and got into the action early. He wanted to peg the ball at his NSW and Kangaroos teammate Cleary when he scored his first. Cleary knocked Mitchell in the head, and Rabbitohs No.1 asked referee Gerard Sutton what the deal was as he was waiting to line up the conversion.
There were plenty of decent running battles throughout the night, including Michael Chee Kam and Izack Tago.
There was even a little drama in front of the Souths’ coaching box after full-time between a few fans, only for assistant coach and Souths legend Sam Burgess to help calm the situation.
Cleary came up with a bell-ringer on Cody Walker, Crichton was forever racing out of the line to put pressure on Souths left edge – there was more than one attempt at snatching an intercept like he did against the Rabbits in the 2021 grand final – while Mitchell caused a brief scare when he clutched at his left groin after a tackle.
A Mitchell dropout that fell short of the required 10m gifted Penrith an easy penalty goal not long after half-time to give them the lead for the first time of the night.
Spencer Leniu deserved special praise for smashing past four defenders, which led to Crichton’s try before the break.
And Souths workhorse Jai Arrow was placed on report for a crusher tackle on Sunia Turuva, but the TV commentators were convinced he was hard done by.
These two teams will push deep into September. Again. It would be great if they could play against each other every second week.
Penrith march on to Bathurst next week where the Wests Tigers await. Souths head north to take on competition leaders Brisbane.
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