South Sydney survived a late Shark attack to record a 32-22 victory over Cronulla at Suncorp Stadium but the game could have enormous ramifications for the Queensland Origin side with two incumbents placed on report.
The Rabbitohs looked on the path to certain victory when they raced to a 20-0 lead inside 30 minutes only for Cronulla to launch a second-half fightback and pull within sight of victory to trail 20-16 with 14 minutes to play.
But Cronulla’s late fightback was thwarted when the referee Chris Sutton halted play in the 73rd minute to place Chad Townsend on report for what appeared to be an innocuous neck contact tackle two tackles earlier.