It was for departing coaches Jacinta Nielson and Cathy Charles, who have been the backbone of the team.
It was for captain Bella Rewiri-Wharerau, who was stretchered from the field with an awful injury, and leaders Zoe Frood and Paige Church, who went down early with injuries.
Ultimately, it was for the pride of the jersey, and the club, as Alhambra-Union held on to be crowned the Dunedin women’s division 1 champions.
They beat Dunedin 29-22 in a thrilling final at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday.
Pride was the overwhelming emotion for prop Eilis Doyle after the final whistle.
"Really, really proud — probably that’s the biggest thing, just so proud," Doyle said.
"Our coaches are moving on. They’ve dedicated a lot to our team.
"I’ve played at the club since I was 14 and Cathy’s been there the whole time, and Jacs has been there for most of it.
"Immensely proud of the girls and the way we fronted.
"We had a lot of our leadership injured, and go down, and the way we were able to get up and keep going — we made it hard for ourselves, we really did — but just proud of the effort.
"I love this club. I’m so proud to play here."
AU opened strongly when flanker Sarah Jones put in a big hit, and counter-rucked to turn the ball over just outside their 22m.
AU flung it to the edge, where winger Caitlyn Stowers darted down the side, then recycled across the park.
Jones drew in the last defender to put Jaymee Meffan into space.
Naomi Sopoaga came flying to make a try-saving tackle, but AU made no mistake when lock Anna Duncan charged over.
Jones — who played for Matatu and shifted from the backs to the forwards this season — showed her class yet again to put young first five Pip Eason into space.
AU rolled forward and were 5m from the line when Dunedin winger Aria Monaghan was sent to the bin.
Church made sure of it and Sophie Galliven added the extras to give AU a 19-0 lead after 25 minutes.
Dunedin hooker Mia Stout almost came up with some individual brilliance to get her side ticking.
She shimmied through the defence and took off in a mad 40m dash, but she was brought down just shy of the line.
Rewiri-Wharerau put her foot down for a flash of her own individual brilliance.
Stowers scooped up Dunedin’s turnover and offloaded to her captain, who ran away for a 35m to give AU a 24-0 lead at halftime.
Dunedin strung together a long period of play to open the second half but came up short under some stoic defence.
AU started looking dangerous, but Sopoaga nabbed an intercept and scored a 65m try.
That finally got the Sharks on the board — and started something special for the defending champions.
Centre Hannah Norris applied the gas, weaved through the defence and scored to close the gap to 12 points.
It shifted the momentum to Dunedin when Rewiri-Wharerau went down with a serious injury.
She was stretchered from the field — her team-mates darted down the tunnel to celebrate with their captain after the final whistle — and gave the guard of honour a wave.
Sopoaga scored her second try, and Maddison Pengelly scored to get Dunedin within two points.
It was a strong fightback from Dunedin, but with two minutes left on the clock, Jones had the final say when she scored to seal the victory.
