Warriors 26
Rabbitohs 24
With senior prop Sam Rapira suffering a potentially season-ending knee injury and five-eighth James Maloney also crocked, the Warriors were struggling to find much joy in yesterday's thrilling victory over the Rabbitohs.
That was a shame, given the gritty, deserving nature of their performance.
The two competition points will certainly
be valuable for a team that has bounced back admirably following a run of dispiriting losses but the price paid - the likely loss of the club's best forward and arguably best player - could be horribly high.
Coach Ivan Cleary was vague about Rapira's injury, but there was no doubting he feared the worst possible prognosis.
Asked if the injury was a likely ACL rupture - an injury that would sideline the test prop for about nine months - he said: "Maybe. That is just our lot really. That is a tough one [to take]."
If there was a silver lining it came in the performance of Russell Packer. The tyro prop turned in his finest performance in a Warriors shirt, scoring a try and defending relentlessly as the Warriors fought their way back from eight points down late in the first half.
Packer was dropped for undisclosed reasons earlier in the season - it's doubtful they were related to form - but Cleary believed the 20-year-old was ready to lead the pack in Rapira's absence.
"He has been really good these last couple of weeks - easily his best two games of the year. He has changed his preparation a bit and the results are showing on the field. We are going to need those sort of games from him from here on in."
A bright start saw the Warriors twice take the lead through tries to Lance Hohaia and Brent Tate, but the tide turned swiftly against them.
Maloney reeled out of a collision with British second rower Sam Burgess clutching his side and barely able to move.
A fumble had turned the ball over to Souths, but with the scrum set the match officials refused to let Lewis Brown replace the injured Maloney.
Souths immediately went left to where Maloney was floundering and Fetuli Talanoa ran through the vacant space to score the simplest of tries.
Despite conceding the rules had been applied correctly, Cleary fumed about the incident.
"We basically conceded a try because [Maloney] couldn't even play. That was a farce. It was just ridiculous. It just shows unfortunately that sometimes the officials don't have a handle on the context of the game.
"Fair enough you can't make a change at a scrum, but the guy couldn't play and the game was stopped. It is pretty frustrating."
It got even more frustrating for Cleary when Issac Luke carved his way through the middle to send over Rhys Wesser and extend the Bunnies' lead to eight.
However a dreadful Shannan McPherson error handed the Warriors the ball with less than a minute left in the half and Jerome Ropati crossed after the half-time hooter.
Rapira's departure two minutes after the restart seemed to confirm it wouldn't be the Warriors' day. But Ropati darted through a hole and slithered over for his second to lock up the scores and Packer barged over two minutes later to give them a decisive eight-point lead.
Talanoa's second with 12 minutes remaining got the Bunnies back into it.
A Burgess line break looked to have set up the winning try, but Kevin Locke hammered Wesser on the tryline to jolt the ball free and the Warriors hung on to claim a fine victory.
Second rower Ben Matulino supplied much of the sting in another punishing defensive effort.
The Warriors face the Tigers in Sydney on Friday night. Maloney seems almost certain to miss that match but there could be some good news on the way with key winger Manu Vatuvei a possible starter.
