The Wests Tigers have been denied a first win of the season after the Canterbury Bulldogs held on for a 26-22 victory at Belmore Park.
At the 65th minute, the Bulldogs appeared to have done enough to claim the points leading 26-6 with no sign of the Tigers launching a comeback.
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But three long-range tries made it a four point game in an incredible four-minute burst to make a real game out of it.
A line break to Brandon Wakeham before he passed to Luke Brooks to streak away was followed by an immediate strike from Fonua Pole, made it a 10 point game with 10 minutes remaining.
“The Tigers, they’ve come out of hibernation,” Andrew Voss screamed. “Where have you been Wests Tigers?
“They’ve just come out of a slumber, they’ve made three or four line breaks in the past two minutes.”
It got even wilder when the Tigers scored a third straight through fullback Charlie Staines after Luke Brooks made a break right up the middle.
“This could be the rugby league miracle of all miracles,” Voss said. “A side that had been administered the last rites is coming back from the grave.”
It set up a grandstand finish but the Tigers couldn’t quite get there.
The Fox Sports were stunned by what they had seen.
“They were just not in the game at 26-6,” Michael Ennis said. “And then all of a sudden in four and a half, five minutes, they just went bang, bang, bang.
“But they just couldn’t get it done the Tigers.”
Greg Alexander added: “It was quite incredible really. When you think of the Bulldogs 60 minutes into that game just cruising to victory. It certainly shocked the Bulldogs that they were good enough just to close the game down and not give the Tigers another chance.”
But in front of a packed crowd at its spiritual home, the Bulldogs dominated the opening hour with Josh Addo-Carr scoring two long-range tries in second gear to tear the Tigers’ heart out.
The result meants the Tigers are 0-3 and sit last on the NRL ladder after three rounds, while the Bulldogs have moved to 2-1 and into the top eight.