South Sydney have continued their late-season resurgence with a 42-28 win over Wests Tigers on the Central Coast in one of the most open attacking games of the season.
After the Rabbitohs' five-game winning streak was ended by the Dolphins last time out, Ben Hornby's men twice came from behind to secure a vital two points to keep their slim hopes of a NRL finals berth alive.
Saturday afternoon's performance didn't match the heights they have reached during the past two months, but the Bunnies won't care.
Their return to the winners' circle put them on 20 points and two wins shy of the top eight.
Any expectations of an underwhelming spectacle between sides ranked 15th and 17th on the ladder were dispelled in a frenetic opening 20 minutes.
South Sydney got out to an early lead through tries to Davvy Moale and Cody Walker but the Tigers quickly hit back with two four-pointers of their own.
It was a disappointing afternoon for the inexperienced Tigers outfit, who produced one of their most exciting attacking displays of the season but still fell short.
Lachlan Galvin opened the scoring for the Tigers, the 19-year-old five-eighth linking up with 19-year-old hooker Tallyn Da Silva after catching the Rabbitohs defence napping at dummy-half.
The Tigers' cubs were at it again a few minutes later, this time Da Silva coming up with a four-pointer.
Their best moment came right on the stroke of halftime.
Still deep in their own half and with the buzzer sounding out, the Tigers started a sweeping passing move that found winger Luke Laulilii in space on the left wing.
The 18-year-old fended off Damien Cook before finding Galvin who passed to Jahream Bula backing up to score.
But errors and ill-discipline would frustrate the Tigers, and their long-suffering fans who made the trip up the M1, once again.
The Tigers completed just 70 per cent of their sets and conceded seven penalties to the Rabbitohs' two.
With 20 minutes to go and the scores level, Laulilii took his eyes off the ball while fielding a regulation pass on his 10-metre line from Bula.
It spilled straight into the arms of Souths hooker Cook, who handed it to Walker to score the simplest of tries.
Without injured fullback Latrell Mitchell and suspended lock Cam Murray, the Rabbitohs' manpower was further reduced when centre Richard Kennar failed to pass an HIA in the first half.
Bench player Peter Mamezoulas took advantage of more game time than he is used to and scored his first try of the season, burrowing over from dummy half after catching the Tigers' defence napping.
The Tigers' spirited resistance was ended soon after, when Aiden Sezer was sin-binned for a hip-drop tackle on young Souths fullback Jye Gray - the club's 15th yellow card of the season.
Gray had the last laugh, taking advantage of the extra man to cross over in the 73rd minute to seal the win.