South Sydney rugby league coach Jason Taylor's search for a stable halves pairing could be over after rookie halfback Chris Sandow steered the Rabbitohs to the upset of the year so far against the New Zealand Warriors.

The Bunnies sprung a huge surprise in Auckland on Friday night, prevailing 35-28 for only their second win of the season and even more encouraging to Taylor than the two competition points was the performance of Sandow and five-eighth John Sutton.

The coach has chopped and changed his halves all year as he looks to fill the void left by injured Craig Wing.

But Sandow, dubbed the Aboriginal Alfie, produced a fine performance, impressing with his direction and long kicking game and nailing a 40 metre field goal to seal the win.

Taylor was proud his side could produce such a result after a tumultuous season both on and off the field.

"We have gone through a really tough period and I don't think many clubs could come out the other side of it," Taylor said.

"We are probably still not completely out the other side of it.

"But a win like that when you are down like we were, to come back twice and win the game, shows great character and shows the morale of the team is certainly up there."

The Rabbitohs, who have been anchored to the bottom of the ladder for most of the season, suddenly find themselves only two points off the second-last placed North Queensland, who suffered their sixth straight defeat by going down 40-16 to Wests Tigers on Saturday night.