Halfback Scott Prince has helped the Gold Coast Titans to a dramatic one-point win over South Sydney at ANZ Stadium on Friday night.
With the scores locked at 18-all after normal time, Titans captain Prince sent the game into golden-point extra time with Souths down to 12 men after Chris Sandow was sent to the bin.
An early Bunnies penalty then gave Prince the chance to steal the win and he obliged sending the ball over for a one-pointer crushing a resilient Souths side who fought back after being 10 points down at one-stage.
The Round 2 clash was anything but dull with both sides refusing to give anything away throughout the match.
The Titans without Preston Campbell, managed to make do without their star but surrendered first when Bunnies centre Beau Champion crossed first for the home side after live wire full-back Rhys Wesser provided a slick pass out wide to the right.
Issac Luke raised the flags to make it 6-0, however Gold Coast answered on 14 minutes when Greg Bird and Rogers combined well to pry open the Rabbitohs defence.
After going wide Rogers off-loaded back inside to Campbell's replacement William Zillman who got down low for an early four points. Prince levelled from the spot to keep Souths in check but the home side continued to display a stronger work rate.
As the first half drew to a close, the Titans in reminiscent form to last weekend’s game against the Warriors, managed to hit the front in the 35th minute when Prince fed the ball out to Anthony Laffranchi on the right.
The tireless second-rower charged through Souths five-eighth John Sutton to ground, but the away-side looked slightly sluggish going forward.
Titans captain Prince then continued his flawless kicking to give his side a six point buffer going into the sheds, setting up a tense second half in the process.
Knowing the battle would be won or lost in the forwards, Gold Coast rake Nathan Friend proved he could match it with Souths' acclaimed big men making good defensive contributions with 22 tackles for the half.
Emerging from the tunnel Bird copped some early treatment but the Titans continued to pressure the Bunnies going forward and they found their reward just before the 50th minute when Prince showed fantastic vision to knock a grubber into space on the right.
As the ball headed for the corner, new recruit Joseph Tomane hustled winger Fetuli Talanoa which was enough to make him to fumble and with the Video Referee's blessing the Titans had their third of the night.
Prince couldn’t slot over however and the star half-backs golden run of conversions came to an end with the scores 16-6.
Souths continued to target Bird and Champion found himself on report with a dangerous tackle on the number six, but the big centre made up for it two minutes later when he sliced open the Titans to revive the Bunnies.
Luke 10 in from touch brought John Cartwright’s men back to within four and things went back from bad to worse for the Titans when Friend was sin binned for a leg hold on Dave Taylor.
Friends exclusion was all the Rabbitohs needed to take advantage of the Titans and playing in just his eighth NRL match David Tyrell levelled from close range.
Luke then made no mistake to put the home side in front 18-16