Gold Coast five-eighth Mat Rogers produced the golden kick when he snapped a field goal with 49 seconds remaining in extra time to snatch victory from St George Illawarra at Kogarah's WIN Jubilee Oval last night.
Just as the game seemed set to be a draw after 80 minutes and then 10 minutes of overtime, Rogers hit a cheeky drop kick from dummy-half just metres from the Dragons line, securing an 11-10 victory.
Full coverage of The St George Illawarra DragonsIt came after a series of contentious referee rulings and field-goal attempts failed to break a deadlock which stood for 35 minutes.
St George Illawarra captain Ben Hornby ran after referees Ben Cummins and Tony De Las Heras as the Titans players piled on top of each other in celebration, but was warned off complaining a late decision not to award a Dragons penalty by team-mate Jamie Soward.
Earlier, Soward almost stole victory for the Dragons when he snapped a drop kick from 45m, but it drifted centimetres wide.
The golden-point period beckoned from the moment Titans winger Kevin Gordon dived over in the corner in the 55th minute.
The Dragons had their chances and so did the Titans, but the stalemate continued as Titans halfback Scott Prince sliced a 30m field goal attempt with nine minutes remaining in normal time. Sniffing an upset, the Gold Coast surged late, forcing the competition leaders to hold on in the closing stages.
With 20 seconds remaining, the Dragons then had one desperate last shot to separate the teams after Clinton Toopi knocked on stopping a frantic backline play. But this game was always destined to go beyond 80 minutes.
In front of a crowd of 12,668, St George Illawarra led 10-6 at half-time after a number of controversial decisions by video referee Bill Harrigan.
The Titans surged to the front after four minutes when Anthony Laffranchi lunged at the line.
Spinning out of Ben Hornby and Dean Young tackles, Laffranchi reached out to score, but there remained blades of grass between the ball and the line.
That was until the legs of Jeremy Smith assisted Laffranchi in pushing the ball onto the paint.
There was a hint of a knock-on in the moment Laffranchi laid there with arm outstretched, but Harrigan ruled Smith's intervention was enough to award the Titans the first points of the game.
Harrigan was called on 20 minutes later when Dragons second-rower Ben Creagh powered his way over.
Creagh slam dunked the ball down, but the slow motion replay showed no separation between leather and hand and he was duly awarded the points.
Soward's conversion and a penalty shortly after put the Dragons ahead for the first time at 8-6, but the lead could have been greater after Brett Morris' sensational bust down the left edge from the restart after the Creagh try.
Morris was grounded less than 10m out from the line by a desperate Preston Campbell covering tackle, before fullback Darius Boyd bombed the try on a sweeping cross-field play.
However, the Dragons stayed on the front foot when awarded the penalty goal invitation when the out-numbered Titans defence were ruled offside when Boyd lost possession.
Soward's second penalty goal came from even more contentious and confusing circumstances.
Centre Matt Cooper appeared to score after young Titan Shannon Walker dropped a kick from the Dragons five-eighth.
As the ball fell to ground, former Dragons prop Luke Bailey was penalised for being involved from offside in front of Walker, but the try was disallowed when Soward was ruled to have knocked on as the ball was tunnelled back to Cooper before he pounced.
GOLD COAST 11 (K Gordon, A Laffranchi tries; S Prince goal, M Rogers field goal) bt ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 10 (B Creagh try; J Soward 3 goals) in golden-point extra time at WIN Jubilee Oval. Referees: Ben Cummins, Tony De Las Heras. Crowd: 12,668.
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Pick the score: Dragons 10 Titans (+8.5pts) 11; Div: $2145.60.
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