The relief on the faces and in the voices of the Mount Maunganui players, coaching staff and supporters after the final whistle blew at Blake Park was evidence they had finally won a game after four one-point losses this season.
The 21-15 win over defending champs Te Puke Sports was in doubt until the final play and had Te Puke not kicked a penalty dead in the final minute, rather than set up an attacking lineout five metres out, another one point loss was on the cards.
Mount certainly had the lion's share of territory and possession in the first half but were behind early when Tim Bond scored an excellent try.
A key moment that may have changed the face of the game happened after 23 minutes and was a classic 14-point try. Te Puke made a stunning break out, with winger Gideon Uelese crashing over for a try, only for the assistant referee to call play back for a correct call on a forward pass. From the resulting scrum, Mount kicked high and the ball was allowed to bounce, enabling Bay of Plenty Steamers fullback Kenny Lynn to slide in for the try.
Te Puke showed the resilience a team needs to be champions when they finished the half strongly but in another critical moment, left winger Junior Tofa Va's had the ball slip out of his grasp as he dived to score.
Te Puke and Chiefs wider training group hooker, Nathan Harris, did manage to dot down before the break to make the halftime score 15-10 to the visitors.
It took the Mount five minutes to even the scoreline when 'Sheep' Caleb Oakes scored but the game then became a battle of attrition with both teams getting pinged regularly at the breakdown.
Replacement halfback Matt Golding was the match winner for the Mount in the end, kicking two fine penalties under pressure in the final 10 minutes.
Mount coach Rodney Voullaire was relieved to get the win and pleased his players finally got what their hard work this season has deserved.
"Te Puke is a great team and we are not going to take that away from them. They have won it two years in a row and there is a reason for that. There were two top teams out there and I rate my team highly.
"We have been doing a lot of work on scrums and lineouts, even though our set piece was not the best today.
"The boys are getting used to that tight rugby. If you look at the games we have lost, we have been playing really good structured rugby but it has only been that last vital minute when we have made little mistakes which are very important to winning and losing. It was only a matter of time until get the positive end of the stick."