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The Gold Coast Titans celebrate - Source: Getty -
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South Sydney's miserable start to the NRL season has continued with a heart-breaking golden point extra time 19-18 defeat at the hands of Gold Coast at ANZ Stadium.
Titans captain Scott Prince calmly slotted an 80th minute penalty goal to level the scores at 18-18 before landing the winning field goal in the second minute of extra time to complete a see-sawing night for both sides.
Down 16-6 after 49 minutes, the Rabbitohs had mounted a revival, scoring two unanswered tries, one while Titans hooker Nathan Friend was in the sin-bin, to sneak ahead 18-16 through Issac Luke's three-from-three with the boot in front of 10,943 fans.
But as the Titans mounted a last ditch attack, Souths halfback Chris Sandow was penalised and also sin-binned in the final minute for Prince to level the scores by coolly slotting home.
In a rugged match often dominated by the referees' whistles, Souths took full advantage of Friend's 63rd minute sin-binning to almost get out of jail, with centre Beau Champion bagging a double for the night.
But they now start their much hyped season none from two after last week's shock 36-10 thumping at the hands of the Sydney Roosters.
The Titans have won both their opening games in come-from-behind performances after last week's 24-18 victory over the Warriors.
The Rabbitohs will have some concerns for Champion, who was placed on report for a lifting tackle on Titans five-eighth Greg Bird, who was playing his first match in Sydney since being stood down by Cronulla in 2008 and was roundly booed at times.
In the same incident, Sandow was cautioned for a cheap forearm to Bird's head while the No.6 was on the ground.
The Titans led 12-6 at halftime after the Bunnies had looked keen to play some football early, throwing the ball around with abandon.
Their approach paid dividends in the eighth minute when Champion streaked 25 metres down the right side of the field to score.
But the Titans were on the board in the 14th minute when replacement fullback William Zillman took a neat inside ball from Mat Rogers and second-rower Anthony Laffranchi gave Gold Coast the lead for the first time when he crashed through three defenders from close range in the 35th minute.
The Titans extended their lead nine minutes after the break when Joseph Tomane was first to a Prince grubber before a Rabbitohs revival.
Champion got his second in the 59th minute after Bird had been penalised for a tackle infringement.
Souths replacement Dave Tyrell barged over from close range to draw the home side level, Luke's conversion making it 18-16.
Champion was denied a hat-trick in the 73rd minute, video referee Steve Clark ruling he was held up.
"I sort of half pooed myself there when I pushed it wide," Prince said of his shot of goal, which rebounded in off the right upright.
Disappointed Souths coach John Lang saw some hopeful signs in the way his side is coming together.
"I didn't think we were out of it and we never had it won," he said.
"We had our chance to probably kill them off, maybe they thought they had their chance to kill us off ... in that second half."
In a match that featured 21 penalties, a count won 11-10 by Souths, Rabbitohs captain Roy Asotasi summed up the feeling of the players.
"I felt like I was playing a game of rugby union," he
said.
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