Rabbitohs ‘magic’ steals epic against Panthers

South Sydney had won the game. Then lost it. Then won it.

On the back of a masterclass from fullback Latrell Mitchell and his mate at five-eighth Cody Walker, the Bunnies got one over old enemy Penrith in what was another epic between the two powerhouse teams.

For a while it looked like Panthers centre Stephen Crichton was once again going to be the game winner, crushing the hearts of thousands of cardinal and myrtle supporters.

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He did it in the 2021 grand final when an intercept try from a Walker pass iced an epic premiership victory.

Crichton scored a hat-trick at Accor Stadium on Thursday night. His try in the 66th minute put the Panthers in front, then his third in the 71st minute and subsequent conversion seemingly put the result to bed, another win for the two-time reigning premiers.

However the soap opera that is rugby league had a couple more twists to come.

Mitchell scored in the 75th minute – his second for the game – and converted to bring the Bunnies back within two points.

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Then with little more than a minute on the clock, South Sydney shifted left and some magic from Walker put Isaiah Tass into space and he was able to find the line.

Penrith had one more play to pull a rabbit out of the hat – no pun intended – but couldn’t, and Jason Demetriou’s men won 20-18.

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“Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell, they come up with a bit of magic,” Billy Slater said as the final siren sounded.

Mitchell’s form has been questioned over the opening rounds of this season.

So much so his place in the New South Wales team has been put out to tender by some experts picking their early State of Origin teams.

The Bunnies No.1 responded with a brilliant performance against the competition benchmark.

“It was well deserved. It was scrappy and it went to chaos there,” Mitchell told Nine after the win.

”We stuck to what we’ve been practicing the last few weeks and we’ve been building nicely. Great result.

“We know what the blueprint is and we’ve just got to keep following it.”

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary couldn’t find fault with his own team, and praised the opposition for “big plays” which sealed the result.

“When you’re up by eight inside 10 (minutes) you would like to think you could sew it up,” Cleary said.

“But if there’s one team you don’t want to playing when they’re like that tonight, it’s probably Souths.”

The Bunnies travel to Brisbane next week, while Penrith hosts the Wests Tigers in Bathurst.

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