South Sydney saved by penalty at the death in win over Cowboys

Hooker Damien Cook all but played himself into a NSW jersey scoring a brilliant try and setting up another, while his Cowboys counterpart Jake Granville endured the cruellest of final moments when he was penalised for being off side while trying to charge down a Reynolds field goal in the dying seconds.

Reynolds was forced to switch to his left foot while attempting the field goal and he scuffed his kick before the referee's whistle gave the halfback another chance to win the game.

Michael Morgan had put his side a point ahead just minutes earlier before Souths recovered a drop out through a Kyle Feldt error, and surged upfield for one final fling.

Granville played a superb game in a bid to convince Queensland coach Kevin Walters that he was State Of Origin ready after the representative retirement of Cameron Smith earlier this week, but was left in tears as Reynolds went back and coolly slotted the match-winning penalty goal.

"I thought it was a penalty straight away up in the box, us coaches we were jumping up and down," Souths coach Anthony Seibold said. "Reyno had to go to his left boot. He didn't get a fair opportunity to kick so it was the right decision."

Cowboys coach Paul Green offered no opinion on the penalty, saying only that he would "have to have a look at it".

The frantic finish moved Souths into the top four after their fifth win from the last six rounds, while North Queensland's stuttering season has been left hanging by a thread. But it wasn't the smoothest of nights as Alex Johnston limped off with a hamstring injury in the first half, while Sam Burgess followed soon after with a strained glute.

"Sammy had a glute strain in the first half, he said he was available to go back on at the back end of the game but I didn't want to risk him," Seibold said.

Cowboys prop Matt Scott also left the game early with a suspected medial ligament injury, putting him in serious doubt for Origin one.

Blues coach Brad Fittler would have been delighted with what he saw from Cook, his dummy half running causing headaches around the ruck for the Cowboys. He set up George Burgess after just four minutes for the first try of the match, and almost produced a similar try in the dying stages for his front rower before Reynolds' late penalty. But his best moment came in the 52nd when he picked up the ball from dummy half 25m out on the last tackle, sprinted between Shaun Fensom and Corey Jensen, stepped around Michael Morgan and scored under the posts.

Both sides managed two tries in the thrilling encounter which also included a staggering seven penalty goals. Souths shot out of the blocks in Townsville, as George Burgess fell through a gaping hole between Matthew Scott and Jason Taumalolo, the latter caught out on the wrong side of the ruck and unable to adjust in time.

The Rabbitohs failed to complete their next set off the kick off, and then gave away a penalty deep in their territory as Cody Walker copped 10 minutes in the bin for dissent. Their defence held strong, then Souths kicked a pair of penalty goals before the Cowboys warmed to the task through Antonio Winterstein who touched down in the left corner after sharp work by Johnathan Thurston and Michael Morgan.

"I'm proud of our boys for sticking in for that 10 minutes when Cody got 10 in the bin, we showed some real resilience and that's full credit to my boys, we had to adapt to some situations and that's what we did," Rabbitohs co-captain Greg Inglis said. "Both sides just wanted to get on and play footy, we just got lucky in the end there and walked away with two points."

Morgan played the match at fullback after coach Paul Green opted to cull Lachlan Coote in favour of Te Maire Martin who slotted into the halves beside Thurston.