The Sydney Roosters survived the mother of all comebacks to down local rivals South Sydney 40-29 in an enthralling opening to the NRL season on Friday night.

Seemingly home and hosed after running up a 28-6 second-half lead over a Rabbitohs side down to just one fit interchange player on the bench, the Roosters were forced to come from behind to snatch a dramatic win at the death.

Four tries in 19 minutes brought the Rabbitohs level at 28-all and when Chris Sandow capped a brilliant night with a 73rd minute field goal, the red and green faithful were already celebrating the miracle comeback.

It wasn't to be, however, unlikely hero Tom Symonds barrelling over after the Roosters benefited from a short kick-off to put the home side back in front before doubling the dose on the stroke of fulltime to complete a heartstopping first night.

Any chance of a second-half Souths comeback was seemingly snuffed out when Sam Perrett extended the lead to 22-points six minutes after the restart, but they didn't count on a stinging blast from coach John Lang inspiring the undermanned Rabbitohs.

With one player left on the bench after Ben Lowe joined first-half casualties Sam Burgess (shoulder) and Scott Geddes (Achilles tendon), the Bunnies somehow dragged themselves back into the contest sparked by Nathan Merritt's 51st minute four-pointer.

Star off-season recruit Greg Inglis then made his first impact of the match to reel in a Sandow kick before Eddy Pettybourne crashed over to drag the home side to within four points with 13 minutes on the clock.

Having played a pivotal role in engineering the comeback, Sandow capped the surge with a 90-metre try after cleaning up a grubber, the cheeky halfback with enough energy to salute the crowd on his run to the line but not enough to take the conversion, which Issac Luke missed from wide out to leave the scores level at 28-28.

There was little sense of what was to unfold as the Roosters ran riot over the opening 40 minutes.

Braith Anasta, Anthony Minichiello, Joseph Leilua and Frank Paul Nuuausala all scored to set up what looked like being a long night for Souths.

As if the scoreboard wasn't bad enough, there was further drama for the Bunnies after they were found to have 14 players on the field for four tackles midway through the opening stanza.

"We discussed at halftime that the only way we'd let them in was our discipline and that was probably spot on," said Anasta, the Roosters giving away six straight penalties during the Rabbitohs comeback.

"The character we showed ... it showed where we're at as a team and we've come a long way."

Lang was left lamenting the lack of urgency from his side over the back end of the opening half, with the Roosters crossing three times in that period.

"The comeback was great but there was a lot of bad stuff amongst it as well," Lang said.

"I thought we played well for 20 minutes then we went right off the boil, we came back in and then I thought we went soft at the end when they got that ball back, we just didn't drive it home, we just let things happen.

"It's the first game of the season but we're doing the same things we did last season - it's the sort of thing we did last year and it's something we've got to overcome."

Lang said he was unsure as to the circumstances surrounding the extra player being on the field, with the NRL sure to investigate, while all three injured players will have scans on Saturday.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP