Newcastle Knights found their attacking mojo and returned to the top four but not before being given an almighty scare by a fast-finishing South Sydney at Bankwest Stadium.
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The Knights appeared to be cruising, leading 20-0 with under 14 minutes left but clocked off dramatically late in the game.
Souths stormed home, scoring three tries in six minutes to narrow the gap to 20-18 with seven minutes left with hooker Damien Cook grabbing a double.
There were some anxious moments at the death with the Knights withstanding a set on their own line to claim the competition points.
Fullback Kalyn Ponga returned to somewhere near his best form, scoring a great individual try and laying on another for Bradman Best. But his wayward goal kicking had the Knights under pressure late in the contest. He landed just two from five goal attempts.
Best was also strong for the visitors while Mitch Barnett had an absolute stormer off the bench in his return from a big injury lay-off
The Knights scored two tries in the opening 14 minutes to lead 10-0 after an explosive start to the game by Best.
Quiet in the past couple of matches, Best drew in two defenders and found his winger Enari Tuala for the game's opening try with a flick pass with Kalyn Ponga converting from the sideline for a 6-0 advantage after 11 minutes.
Then, just three minutes later, the teenage centre took an inside pass from Kurt Mann and put his side on the front foot with a big charge deep inside Souths territory.
From his quick play-the-ball, Mitchell Pearce ran the short side and found Mann with a superb face pass with the five-eight scoring out wide. Ponga's conversion missed but the Knights led 10-0.
The Knights were dominating the ruck and had the Bunnies back-peddling but failed to capitalise with a Pearce 40-20 going unrewarded.
Coach Adam O'Brien unleashed Mitch Barnett from the bench midway through the half and he made an immediate defensive impact.
Just when it looked like the Knights would fail to capitalise on their field position dominance, some magic from Ponga saw the visitors post their third try.
Taking the ball on the right 30 metres out, the Knights fullkback burned Cody Walker on the outside before scooting past fullback Alex Johnson to cross for a brilliant individual try. But he missed with the conversion for a 14-0 scoreline.
Souths had some opportunities late in the half on the Knights tryline but some great defence and poor discipline with the footy thwarted them.
The Knights turned the screws a little tighter on Souths in the opening 10 minutes of the second half to stretch the advantage to 18-0 with their fourth try.
After pinning the Bunnies in-goal with a perfectly weighted grubber, Ponga came up with another just minutes later for Best to win the race and touch down. Again he missed with the conversion but kicked a penalty goal soon after for a 20-0 lead.
