Aaron Smith may have brought up 50 games in the Highlanders jersey last night and turned in an excellent performance, but he was far from over the moon about his efforts in his side's close win over the Rebels.
Smith (24) was all energy as usual, but did not give himself a pass mark in the match, with his parents watching in the stand.
''It was an awesome night, but I gave them [the Rebels] two tries and I was pretty gutted about that. It was just silly mistakes; a missed tackle and an intercept and that wrecked my night a wee bit,'' Smith said.
''But we got the win in the end. I'm really glad the boys showed some real guts in the last 10 minutes. If we had given them that try with five minutes to go it could have been a different game. But we gave it with three minutes to go and that makes it a lot harder for them to score.''
Smith passed well and scored a try, but he said that gave little comfort.
''You are always harder on yourself. You always want it to be pretty good. I let them in early and I tried to come back from there. But I try to keep my standards high and work to them.
''We knew we had them in the first half as they played a lot of field position. But we know if they get down in the second half then they would throw it around and be very dangerous.''
Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph said it was an ugly win.
''We won a game of rugby and that was the most positive thing about tonight. We are better than that and we have to be better than that,'' Joseph said.
''It is hard to put a finger on one thing. I think in the first half we played some really good attacking rugby. Then we made a mistake and gave a penalty away and kept them in the game.
''There were times then when we got a good lead but then through our own demise we would let the Rebels back in the game.''
Joseph was loath to say the Highlanders had slipped to the Rebels standards, but said the side just needed to concentrate on its own game.
''At times we played to their speed of the game and the way they do things and we have to be better than that.''
Joseph thought in the first 60 minutes the Highlanders scrum dominated, but the side kept giving penalties away as the scrum was a mess all game.
That was dumb and had to be fixed, he said.
The Bulls are next cab off the rank for the Highlanders, at Forsyth Barr Stadium next Friday night.
Joseph said the team had to control the ball more next week and take the physical challenge to the Bulls.
Joseph had no comment on reports he has been linked with a move to Welsh side Cardiff Blues at the end of the season.