Dragons fall to Rabbitohs in heartbreaker

The Rabbitohs were awarded a penalty try less than 10 minutes into the contest after Jye Gray attempted to re-gather his own grubber but was held back by Lachlan Ilias.

Jamie Humphreys added the extras from in front to make it 6-0 the way of the visitors early.

The Dragons managed a response their next set with Jack de Belin pushing the ball out and onto Clint Gutherson who sent a cut-out the way of a streaking Tyrell Sloan to dive over in the southwestern corner.

Jai Arrow left the field a quarter of the way in for a HIA – which he ultimately passed – with Tevita Tatola being inserted into the action.

The Rabbitohs extended their lead soon after with Peter Mamouzelos burrowing his way over under the sticks out of dummy-half to make it 12-4.

A Rabbitohs error off the corresponding set paved the way for Sloan to grab his second of the afternoon off a crafty Gutherson unload and Moses Suli tip-on to bring it back to 12-8.

Christian Tuipulotu burst into the backfield from inside his own half to put the Red V on the front font moments later with the Dragons crossing for their third try off the back of it.

Hamish Stewart skied to reel in a cross-field Lachlan Ilias kick with the rookie getting the ball away from mere inches above the turf with it ricocheting off a Rabbitoh and to a supporting Kyle Flanagan who dove over.

Valentine Holmes threw over the extras to give the hosts their first lead of the afternoon heading into half-time.

The Dragons’ second half started in ideal fashion with Tuipulotu again being thrusted into the game courtesy of another sharp Gutherson tip-on.

Tuipulotu shoved away from the first wave of Rabbitohs cover and hit a supporting Flanagan with a skilful offload as the five-eighth secured the first double of his NRL career.

Arrow left the field the following set for another HIA prompting South Sydney to re-insert Lachlan Hubner into the action.

The Dragons lodged a successful Captain’s Challenge to overturn a knock-on call with a little under half-an-hour to play laying the platform for Gutherson to again chime in perfectly as a sweeper and send Tuipulotu over in the left-hand corner.

Tuipulotu celebrated the four-pointer in trademark fashion as the Dragons’ buffer grew out to a dozen.

An error off the corresponding set gifted South Sydney an opportunity to wrestle back some momentum and they did so in the form of a Cody Walker try to bring the scoreline back to 24-18.

The Dragons lost Moses Suli to an apparent rib concern 63 minutes in forcing a backline re-shuffle with Damien Cook shifting into the centres.

With less than 10 minutes to play, South Sydney locked things up with a Sean Keppie try to the right of the sticks.

The Rabbitohs hit lead with five minutes on the clock courtesy of a Humphreys field goal.