Napier's Maraenui scored their 23rd win in a row when they beat Hastings Rugby and Sports 20-14 in the Hawke's Bay senior third division first round final for the Maury Cody Cup at Maraenui Park on Saturday.
But it wasn't easy.
They came back from a 14-nil deficit shortly before halftime and hit the front for the first time in the game with less than three minutes to go, when wing Piripi Moa scored beneath the crossbar. That try completed a daring blindside move called by veteran halfback Boss Forster just outside the Maraenui 22.
Hastings, carrying on from a 50 point semifinal drubbing of Taradale, seemed set to end Maraenui's year-long winning streak with tries to Corey Vainu and Steve Kennedy, both converted by Vainu, before the home side had their first points on the board, a try to centre Eugene Toko, just before halftime.
Coach Kevin Wildermoth's son Vinnie landed a penalty just after halftime and a try by substitute wing Joseph Rarere closed the gap to just a point going into the last quarter. Moa's try, converted by Wildermoth, was the icing on the cake.
Maraenui struggled to field a team at the start of last season and lost their first three games, but emerged four months later with the Ron Parker Memorial Trophy as Division 3 champions.
"We almost folded but we're still here," captain Damian Allan said on Saturday, remarking on the transformation of the side with several players who "no one else wanted".
Among the emerging talent were flanker and former Hawke's Bay primary schools representative Dokken Edmonds, lanky Jordash Wainohu and more senior players such as Renata Fraser and hooker and player-of-the-day George Hawkins.
Veteran lock Lance Wiparata, 38, and in his 20th season of senior rugby, has been through the rise and fall and rise of the club. He captained an unbeaten team to Division 2 honours in 2007 but reeling as the team were denied the chance of promotion back to the Premier grade.
Restructuring of the competition formats at the time meant Maraenui were in effect relegated to a new, largely country-clubs grade, the cost and burden of extra travel compared with other city clubs leading to the club's decision to field a team only in the third division.