Mossburn's self-belief has been bolstered and its 2018 Southland division one prospects given a shot in the arm with a 13-5 victory over defending champion Edendale on Saturday.
Mossburn has stepped up to division one this season and has already shown it is more than competitive.
Heading into the contest at Athol, Edendale had just one loss this season, but it met a fired-up Mossburn outfit.
Edendale coughed up plenty of ball and Mossburn led from start to finish.
"We knew we were good enough to compete in this grade, but this just gives the boys that self-belief that we can beat these teams," co-coach Todd Cavanagh said afterwards.
He rated the performance up with its 20-13 loss to competition favourite Midlands last week. Mossburn came close to drawing that game, and Cavanagh was delighted to have a victory against another competition heavyweight on Saturday.
The win also came with three key players sidelined through injury, which suggests Mossburn can go up a gear.
Openside flanker William Hume and wing Chris MacNamee were both superb in the win.
In other division one contests, Waikaka was too good for Waiau Star, winning 38-0, Midlands maintained its unbeaten run 37-17 over Te Anau, and Wyndham beat Riversdale 16-6.
Albion-Excelsior remained unbeaten in section A of the division two competition, the Gore club impressing in its trip to Riverton and recording a 39-5 victory.
Pioneer won 45-31 over Drummond-Limehills-Star and Waikiwi was the victor in the other section A game, beating Tokanui 33-22.
In section B, Blues continued its unbeaten run, 58-12 against Marist, and Star bounced back from its loss to Blues to record a crushing 48-0 over the visiting Wakatipu team.
Woodlands won the other section B division two game, beating Pirates-Old Boys 31-12.
Otautau maintained its unbeaten run in division three but was given a scare by Ohai-Nightcaps, which pushed the competition leader to the wire. Otautau held on for a 22-19 win.
The Bluff-Mataura showdown was just as tight, Bluff hanging on to win 17-15.
The third game bucked the trend of close scores and was a blowout, as Balfour-Lumsden ran out a 65-7 winner over Collegiate.
- Logan Savory