A late winner by Corey Naera saw him briefly cast as the hero for his Northern Swords Under-17 side before a late sin-binning blotted his copybook.
Reduced to 12 men his side struggled to close out the game against fast-finishing Waicoa Bay Stallions, but they hung on grimly to win 28-22 to give the Swords their only win from the three games in the opening match of the national competition at Toll Stadium in Whangarei yesterday.
Naera and captain Kadince Christensen were the pick of the players, but Naera's indiscretion near the end meant he was out of the running for the Player of the Day awards - despite his scoring two tries.
The loose forward was played at centre by coach Benson Selwyn and the side showed the Waikato-Bay of Plenty side what they had in an almost faultless first half.
They led 22-6 at half-time but the visitors came back into the game in the second spell and drew level at 22-all before Naera scored the winner.
Selwyn said he was blown away by the young Swords' efforts, particularly in the first spell and in the final few minutes of the game. "They really showed what they were made of out there the way they came through at the end and I know they can improve on that in the season ahead," he said.
Selwyn said the side wouldn't be allowed to rest on their laurels at training this week with a game against Auckland next weekend at Arnold Rae Park in Kaitaia.
The only regret the coach had was that a valuable member of the squad, Hareia Te Whata, broke his leg during the game.
The Northern Swords Premiers were beaten 34-16 by Waicoa Bay.
The step up from playing club league to the much higher standard displayed at the national level proved too much for them in the first spell as the more powerful and better prepared Waicoa Bay team ran in four tries to one.
But it was a lot closer in the second spell as the side began to display some unity and grafted their way back into the game.
Like the seniors, the Under-15 players were all over the place in the first half of their match against Waicoa Bay but they came back strongly in the second spell to score more points than the visitors.
They went down 42-24 but Rugby League Northland's Alex Smits said they would benefit from the experience.
"They started off like possums in the headlights blinded by the pace of the game but it didn't take them long to get up to speed and by half-time both teams were pretty even," he said.
All three sides now will benefit for their first hit-out together but face a tough test next week against the Akarana Falcons.