‘This is absurd’: Rabbitohs score three tries in three minutes but lose

The Dragons have shocked the NRL with a stunning win over South Sydney but not before one of the most absurd finishes you’ll see.

The Dragons won – only just. Photo by Matt King/Getty Images

South Sydney have scored three tries in the final four minutes but have fallen just short of one of the greatest comebacks in rugby league history.

Having seen what the Tigers did last Friday night against the Raiders, the Rabbitohs said “hold my beer” as they almost pulled off an unthinkable win over the St George Illawarra Dragons.

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For the first 73 minutes, it was all Dragons as the last-placed side dominated the third-placed Rabbitohs.

In the Rabbitohs’ defence, the side was without Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker and Cameron Murray all through injury as the Dragons ran up a 36-14 lead with seven minutes remaining.

But three tries to Jacob Host, Lachlan Ilias and Campbell Graham in three minutes left a full minute for the Rabbitohs to score once more to send the match to golden point.

The 36-30 result was hardly indicative of the actual match but shows Souths are never truly out of the game.

Having scored tries through Host and a long range try through Ilias, the Rabbitohs immediately launched another raid.

Going wide on the first, the Rabbitohs combined for a long range run which ended 20m out, before going wide for Graham to score.

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” Andrew Voss screamed as Graham got across the line.

Campbell Graham was enormous for Souths. Photo by Matt King/Getty Images

“This is absurd. This is absolutely ridiculous. 77th minute, 78th minute, 79th minute!

“What’s going on? It was 36-14 with three and a half to go, it’s now 36-30.

“I’m not ready for a Souths try here, this can’t happen, this can’t happen from here.”

He added it would have been a “miracle of biblical proportions” had the Rabbitohs pulled it off.

But while it wasn’t to be after the ball went to ground, it was an incredible finish.

Despite the Dragons languishing at the bottom of the ladder, the Red V faithful — and a fair amount of Rabbitohs fans — packed out Netstrada Jubilee Stadium in incredible scenes, selling the stadium out.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Kogarah Oval this full! Sun is shining, it’s a long weekend and the Dragons are winning (I’m enjoying that last part while it lasts, which is unlikely to be for long) #redv#NRLDragonsSouthspic.twitter.com/MTMC9f3gqt

— Megan Maurice (@meganmaurice) June 10, 2023

Doesn’t get better than this. Photo by Matt King/Getty Images

For the Dragons, the win gets them off the bottom of the ladder but captain Ben Hunt said it was a strange feeling despite the big scalp.

“We got pretty nervous towards the end,” he said. “Souths were right at us but we need to be better than that at the end defensively. I think we just got comfortable with a bit of a lead and took the foot off.

“Can’t do that against a good side.”

Earlier in the second half, the Dragons appeared to be scoring at will with Voss describing the defensive effort of the Rabbitohs as “wet paper towel” defence as Michael Molo scored.