Without skipper Greg Inglis, the world champion Rabbitohs froze at a frigid Pepper Stadium while his deputy, John Sutton, failed to finish the match due to an arm injury.

Souths trailed 8-0 at halftime and 18-0  for much of the second half of a round 17 match in which they found Ivan Cleary's inconsistent youngsters mostly impenetrable.

"It was a massive night - the crowd got us home and it's a credit to them for sticking behind us after so many unpleasing efforts," Cartwright said afterwards.

"It was my first 80 (minutes) in the halves. I was cramping up towards the end.

"I felt like a kid again out there, throwing the ball around and having some fun."

The extent to which Penrith's stern goal-line defence was complemented by adventurous and exhuberant attack was well illustrated in the second half when they frustrated the Bunnies at their own end before winger David Simmons, and then Peachey, pounced on loose balls to race upfield.

By comparison, when the Panthers camped in enemy territory, they built a fire.

Two restarted tackle counts preceded five-eighth Peter Wallace's 51st minute try, in which he won the race to a Jamie Soward kick.

And after Simmons raced 75 metres to relieve the pressure on his team, Fijian star Blake managed to dot down in the south-eastern corner – just before he put a foot into touch.

Penrith entered the weekend outside the NRL top eight with just one win from their previous five starts. But with James Segeyaro, Ben Murdoch-Masilla, George Jennings, Matt Moylan and Josh Mansour to come back into their side, their prospects over the chilly months ahead look better than those of the premiers.

"It's disapponting going into another bye with a loss," said Souths' Glenn Stewart

In the coldest conditions for any NRL match this year, Penrith dominated the first 40 minutes to an extent not fully represented by their halftime lead.

Having lost winger Mansour to injury before kick-off, the Panthers were further buffeted when five-eighth Jamie Soward appeared to receive a knock to the leg while defending in the eighth minute.

However, they still scored first. Centre  Blake chased a crossfield kick and back rower Sika Manu attempted to clean up the scraps as South Sydney winger Joel Reddy struggled.

But it was fullback Watene-Zelezniak who ultimately came up with possession, video referees Shayne Hayne and Ben Galea availing themselves of multiple replays before eventually flashing the green light.

With Soward injured, captain Peter Wallace attempted a sideline conversion and was unsuccessful.

Watene-Zelezniak looked like he had scored another, compliments of a bewildering, weaving run from close range in the 14th minute but the onfield referees detected Wallace running behind Manu in the lead-up and immediately chalked off the touchdown without consulting their colleagues in the grandstand.

There was no preventing Panthers centre Dean Whare added to his side's tally 10 minutes later, however.

Second rower Cartwright unleashed a heady flick pass to Soward in midfield, with Wallace chiming in on the eastern side and New Zealand three-quarter Whare dashing for the corner. Once again a difficult conversion attempt was waved wide.

South Sydney's best first-half scoring opportunity came when Sutton was held up on the half hour. They finally managed points when winger Reddy won the race to a kick in the north-eastern corner with seven mintues remaining.

But any ambitions of an escape were swiftly dashed with an Api Koroisau penalty goal with three minutes left in the first game of a truncated weekend of footy.