Brothers grabbed a 26-25 decision over Souths at Crosby Park today to launch the Sumo Energy Hospital Cup season with a thriller.
A second try to centre Xavier Rubens at the 70-minute mark put the Magpies up 25-19 to set up a grandstand finish.
After a couple of failed lineouts from Souths, the Brethren found their way upfield. A rolling maul delivered a penalty try and gave Brothers an automatic conversion and the one-point lead.
The game ended with special individual moments from both teams.
With time up, Rubens got on the outside of a Brothers defender and delivered a special flick pass to the outside to have Brothers fans silent for a moment. The pass back inside led to a huge cover tackle by Henry Smith to save the day 5m short of the tryline.
It was a highly encouraging showing by the Magpies under new coach Adrian Thompson.
The visitors had the early ascendancy. A beautiful sleight-of-hand pass from flyhalf Finn Mackay was converted clinically with a strong finish by fellow Queensland Reds squad member Rubens.
Brothers soon kicked into gear off a loose ball, with a lengthy 30m scamper to the tryline by prop William Manulelia to even things up.
The Magpies were plucky throughout even when down a player with Mackay sinbinned for a deliberate knock down. The Souths defence showed a steely character during that time to concede just a single try.
While dominated at scrum time for most of the day, it was another form of set piece in the rolling maul that set up the third consecutive try for Brothers to lengthen the scoreline to 19-11 before the interval.
The rolling maul was at the forefront again when Souths closed the gap through a lovely, directed maul tailed by No.8 Reece Meise.
Mackay produced a classy play when he looped around and found a passage to the edge where a pristine grubber and chase from Henry Hourigan lead to Rubens' second try and the 25-19 lead.
Winning Brothers coach Ben McCormack said his side was "below their best and couldn’t find any real rhythm in the game", adding that when "you’re losing a lot of ball, it's difficult to get the backs involved".
On the Gold Coast, five tries in the final 20 minutes delivered premiers Bond University a 48-29 win over the University of Queensland.
At Courtney Field, Sunnybank stunned home side Norths 52-36 while Easts toppled Wests 38-17 in front of their faithful home fans at Bottomley Park.
