‘Full beast mode’: Unthinkable finish blows NRL away

A heavyweight battle between Souths and Panthers has ended in incredible scenes with a wild matchwinner 90 seconds from full-time.

South just broke Penrith’s hearts. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

South Sydney have withstood a Stephen Crichton onslaught to pull off a stunning last minute match winner against the Penrith Panthers.

Crichton scored every single one of the Panthers’ 18 points but an Isaiah Tass try with 90 seconds remaining gave Souths a 20-18 win in one of the great thrillers of the season so far.

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It was the perfect way to kick off Anzac Round as it was a war of attrition throughout the 80 minutes.

Crichton, who broke Rabbitohs hearts two years ago when his intercept try buried the Bunnies in the 2021 decider, threatened to do it again.

The centre scored three tries and three goals as he took the kicking duties from Nathan Cleary, who was suffering a groin niggle heading into the match.

Heading into the match, the Rabbitohs had won just one of the sides’ last 11 match up and for long stretches it looked like the Rabbitohs were headed for their sixth-straight loss to Penrith.

But at 18-10 inside the last 10 minutes, the Rabbitohs came over the top the Panthers with Latrell Mitchell scoring his second try before Tass sealed the win, completing a brilliant movement down the left side.

Isaiah Tass streaks away for the matchwinner. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Alex Johnston offloaded to Cody Walker, who drew and passed low to Tass, who did brilliantly to catch the ball and streak over the line for the matchwinner.

“South Sydney Rabbitohs break through the rabbit-proof fence,” Andrew Voss screamed on Fox Sports. “What a try by South Sydney in the moment against the reigning champs. That is something off the top shelf.”

“You would not believe it, Souths have snatched it,” Mat Thompson called on Channel 9.

Post-game, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said it was “a cruel game”.

“I said to the boys, wins and losses come and go but what you’re made of and the culture of our club, I’m still very proud of them tonight,” he said.

“We played much better than we did last week, which we needed to. But someone’s got to win and I couldn’t begrudge them the victory tonight either.”

Stephen Crichton almost did it himself. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Mitchell was once again heavily praised for his performance as he answered coach Jason Demetriou’s call for him to get more involved.

You can often tell what sort of mood Mitchell is in from the opening few sets, and it was clear to see that he was on from the outset and desperate to end Penrith’s dominance over his side.

It’s always been a case of quality over quantity for the fullback and every touch he had on Thursday was something special, with Mitchell bagging a double and a game high 14 tackle busts.

It was his try that got them back in the contest when they were down by eight points with five minutes remaining, while he also produced an epic flick pass that might go down as the pass of the year.

The Rabbitohs are tough to stop at the best of times, but they just about deserve to be premiership favourites if Mitchell can maintain this form.

Asked if Mitchell was in “full beast mode”, Souths coach Jason Demetriou agreed.

“Yeah he was,” he said. “He brings us a dimension sometimes that’s unstructured when he’s playing through that middle and offloads and supporting people that starts generating some ruck speed and gets us playing on the front foot.

“I thought out 6, 7 and 1 with 10 minutes to go were pretty good. It was a special try to win the game.”

Latrell Mitchell has done it again. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

While his battle with fellow No. 1 saw Latrell go 111m from 19 runs, compared with 182m from 17 runs for Dylan Edwards, but the Rabbitohs fullback had a huge say on the result.

Might revive the old Rugby League Week player ratings so I can give Latrell a 10 after that one, holy hell

— Nick Campton (@campo37) April 20, 2023

When Latrell Mitchell is in this sort of mood, don't think there's a better player to watch in rugby league. #NRLRabbitohsPanthers

— Lachlan McKirdy (@LMcKirdy7) April 20, 2023

Memo to NSW selectors: please don’t pick Latrell Mitchell for #stateoforigin…. Pleeeeeeeeaaaase! #NRLpic.twitter.com/ygFCdAtkJt

— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottlieb) April 20, 2023

Earlier, the Rabbitohs lead 6-0 until the Panthers scored against the run of play with 90 seconds left in the first half.

After a reasonably listless first half, the Panthers made 95 on the back of Spencer Leniu’s barnstorming charge out of nothing.

A few plays later, Crichton scored in the corner.

“There was nothing on … as they do the premiers, just brilliant ball movement,” Fox League’s Michael Ennis said.

“It was shades of Carl Webb in Origin from Spencer Leniu.”

With Martin Gabor, NCA NewsWire