Rabbitohs 16 Warriors 18

IT TOOK "79 minutes of torture and one minute of ecstasy" for the Warriors to break their away hoodoo and claim a heart-stopping 18-16 win over South Sydney at Telstra Stadium yesterday.

But the game was marred by controversial video referee rulings relating to the baffling obstruction law. One disallowed try, to Warriors hooker Nathan Fien, was particularly dubious, and even Souths players felt it should have been awarded.

The Kiwis also felt duped after five-eighth Michael Witt was denied a try in the 15th minute when video referee Chris Ward ruled that Rabbitoh Dean Widders had been obstructed by Micheal Luck, even though there was minimal contact by the Warriors lock. That was soon followed by the Fien call, and when Souths led 16-8 late in the game, it seemed the obstruction law - as feared by other NRL coaches - would have direct influence over the result of a game.

However, the Warriors fought back to score twice in the final four minutes to claim their first road victory this season. In what was the final play of the match, they made a break with seconds remaining and Witt deftly kicked to the in-goal corner. Todd Byrne raced to the ball and scored, leading to jubilant scenes as teammates swamped "Skinny" on the ground in a pack embrace.

"I just got the ball, Skinny was just racing down the touchline screaming for me to kick it," Witt said. "I just kicked it with the right weight, Skinny was flying - I think he would have got it no matter how hard I kicked it."

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary, who said the game was "79 minutes of torture and one minute of ecstasy", added that "the last five minutes was character-building". Captain Steve Price was relieved to win in his team's fourth consecutive match against a side placed higher than them on the NRL table, and especially after a bye, considering they did not win a game following a week off last season. "I'm just glad to get the monkey off our back after the bye," he said.

The Warriors took an 8-4 lead into the break but they would have been further ahead had it not been for Ward's disallowed try rulings. South Sydney five-eighth Jeremy Smith, who also had two tries disallowed by Ward for offside, said of the Fien no-try: "It was definitely a try."

In the 62nd minute, Witt threw a pass that was intercepted by Souths flyer Nathan Merritt, who ran 85 metres to score under the posts, and Joe Williams's conversion gave Souths the lead for the first time in the game.

Their 10-8 advantage was quickly extended when Souths scored a helter-skelter try that had the crowd of 13,000 roaring. On the last play, the ball was swung from one side of the field to the other 20 metres out and given to Smith, who put in a short chip to Merritt who palmed it back to Smith. The playmaker found fullback David Peachey and he put up a bomb that was dropped backwards by Merritt in the in-goal, and back-rower David Fa'alogo put his hand on the ball.

In the 76th minute, Wade McKinnon raced 60 metres, beating Peachey, Daniel Irvine and Reece Simmonds to score under the posts after taking a wonderful offload from Price, who was carrying two tacklers. The Warriors were back to 16-14 with two minutes remaining, and under immense pressure, they clinched the points with the final play.

"We had them," Smith lamented. "We just let them off the hook, we switched off on a couple of plays."

A frustrated Rabbitohs coach Jason Taylor said the match should have been put beyond New Zealand's reach in the final quarter. "For the last 20 minutes I thought we invited them back in," he said. "It's something we need to learn, how to finish a game off. We didn't do it today, and in the end they got us. We will need to learn from this game, big time."

The scoring began in the eighth minute when Warriors halfback Grant Rovelli intercepted a Williams pass and ran 85 metres to score under the posts - identical to Merritt's later effort. Tony Martin's conversion made it 6-0.

The obstruction rule reared its ugly head five minutes later when Witt was denied, but Martin extended his side's lead by two after slotting a penalty goal in the 18th minute.

When Fien dived over the line after taking a pass from Price as the skipper stood in a tackle, it seemed a done deal. But Ward ruled NZ prop Sam Rapira, who was a decoy runner, had prevented a Souths player from tackling Price. Rapira said: "It was pretty disappointing. We are still trying to figure out what happened. I think I was caught out. In the moment it's hard to judge whether it's going to be a penalty but you can't pull back."

Then Souths scored through Nigel Vagana, and in the second half looked to have sewn up the result. But McKinnon, who was in sublime form, was succinct in his analysis: "I wouldn't say we got away with it. It is an 80-minute game and we played for 80 minutes."