NRL: Miracle win for Rabbitohs over Dragons

Matt Cooper of the Dragons appeals to the referee as Michael Crocker congratulates Dylan Farrell of the Rabbitohs after he scored a try. Photo / Getty Images

Rabbitohs 34
Dragons 24

A hattrick from centre Dylan Farrell capped a miracle comeback from South Sydney as they notched an amazing 34-24 victory over St George Illawarra at WIN Stadium.

The Dragons led 20-0 after 18 minutes and 20-6 at halftime to be cruising at their fortress before a miraculous comeback from the visitors.

Souths scored three tries in eight minutes to stun the crowd of 18,980 and hit the lead 22-20 in the 53rd minute.

The Dragons then looked to have snatched it from the fire through a Matt Cooper try in the 74th minute to lead 26-24 before a bizarre turn of events got the Rabbitohs home.

Chris Sandow's kick-off performed a leg break worthy of Shane Warne for his side to pinch possession from a scrum and Farrell bagged the third hat-trick of his short career for the clincher.

Nathan Merritt then scored a late try as the Dragons let a second big lead in as many weeks slide and slumped to fifth on the NRL ladder.

Wayne Bennett's side led Canberra 18-6 on Monday night before falling 24-19 in the national capital.

The Rabbitohs' first win at WIN since 2007 kept their slim finals chances at least on life support.

As well as Farrell and Merritt, Rhys Wesser and Nathan Peats scored tries for Souths with Sandow booting five from six.

Cooper and Jason Nightingale bagged doubles for the Dragons with Brett Morris also scoring a try and Jamie Soward booting two from five.

It had started as the Mark Gasnier show in his final battle with Greg Inglis as the retiring centre had a hand in the Dragons' first three tries.

A long afternoon for Souths looked likely when Morris crossed in just the third minute before Gasnier sent Nightingale over three minutes later.

Cooper's try came in the 15th minute and Nightingale got his second after Souths winger Chris McQueen dropped the ball and then missed the tackle on his opposite number.

Wesser gave the Rabbitohs some hope when he completed a try created by halfback Sandow from a scrum and it was 20-6 at the break.

The visitors were given a further sniff when Peats scooted from dummy half to score his first NRL try five minutes after halftime, and were back in it at 20-16 when Farrell leapt to grab a Sandow kick and scored in the 49th minute.

When Farrell planted another Sandow kick four minutes later, the conversion miraculously had the Rabbitohs in front at 22-20.

SOUTH SYDNEY 34 (D Farrell 3 N Merritt N Peats R Wesser tries C Sandow 5 goals) bt ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 24 (M Cooper 2 J Nightingale 2 B Morris tries J Soward 2 goals) at WIN Stadium. Referee: Shayne Hayne, Adam Devcich. Crowd: 18,980.

- AAP