"Both teams were sucked into each other's game plans. We didn't get it right until our last play from set piece, which led to a try."
The first half was a difficult affair with the lead chopping and changing several times.
Old Boys' got things started inside the first couple of minutes with a quick try but the rest of the half saw tired attempts from both teams in a match that could have been defined as one continual ruck.
A sharp intercept try by Horahora caught Old Boys' off guard early in the second half and gave Horahora a chance to catch up, 14-10.
However, Old Boy's finally pulled their socks up with a well-orchestrated try to put them six points ahead of Horahora in the dying stages.
"[We] went from one side of the field then stretched it back again off our quick-phase ball," Stevens says of his team's last try.
Horahora replied with a try of their own near the end of the match but the one point deficit remained as the final whistle sounded.
Stevens was relieved his team did enough for the win in the end, as the nature of Old Boys Marist versus Horahora games in recent years have embodied the essence of a real "grudge-match".
"A lot of the guys know each other," he says.
"It's generally pretty close [and] this was just another tight game."
Results
Bayleys 2015 Southern District Round Three Results:
Southern Districts Premiers:
Old Boys Marist 25 Horahora 24, Waipu 13 Mid Western 18, Mid Northern 47 Kamo 17, Wellsford 28 vs Otamatea 6, Western Sharks 34 Hikurangi12,
Southern Districts Reserves:
Waipu 19 Mid Western 25, Mid Northern 15 Kamo 16, Old Boys Marist 0 Horahora 20, Wellsford 22 Otamatea 25, Western Sharks 66 Hikurangi 19.
