Highlanders winger Caleb Tangitau ran amok in the first half to help set up a 31-26 win against the NSW Waratahs at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Every time the elusive right winger touched the ball, it was trouble for the visitors on Saturday afternoon.
The Waratahs trailed 28-7 at the break, but they rallied with two late tries.
Highlanders first-five Cameron Millar sealed the win with a penalty on fulltime.
It started with Jona Nareki bringing down centre Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i in a bootlaces tackle.
His teammates joined the ruck and shoved the Waratahs off the ball.
They piled on pressure and Tangitau used his speed to slip through half a gap and got a cracking inside ball to Jonah Lowe, who went over for the first of his two tries.
Tangitau was back in the action quickly.
Adam Lennox took a quick tap and made a strong run deep into the Waratahs’ 22.
Tangitau scooped the ball up from the ruck and brushed aside four would-be tacklers to score a try he had no right to.
Wonderful stuff.
The Waratahs fumbled from the restart and the Highlanders swung back on to attack.
Lowe got on the end of a nice skip pass and offloaded in the tackle to Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, who finished off.
Timoci Tavatavanawai is the wine barrel you cut loose at the top of the hill and sit back and watch the carnage.
He was having his usual impact but picked up a yellow card for not staying on his feet. The Waratahs pounced. Andrew Kellaway scored out wide where the extra man would have been.
But he who could do no wrong - Tangitau - fielded a chip kick and put in a grubber which rolled into touch for a 50-22.
The Waratahs were pinned in the red zone and eventually Lowe went over with an athletic high dive into the corner and a one-handed touchdown.
It survived scrutiny from the TMO and the Highlanders went into the break with a 28-7 lead.
Sua’ali’i busted through for the Waratahs early in the second spell and replacement prop Apolosi Ranawai tumbled over.
The Highlanders suffered another couple of setbacks.
Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens had a try ruled out and Nareki got binned for making contact with the head. It was later upgraded from yellow to red.
The Waratahs blew a certain try with a fumble near the line.
The Highlanders' performance had gone from wow to how - as in how long can they hang on.
The answer was about 10 minutes, which felt a lot longer.
The visitors had two tries ruled out, but eventually rumbled over through Leafi Talataina, and then winger Sid Harvey charged over from 15m out on an angled run.
But it was Millar's fulltime penalty that sealed the win.
The scores
Highlanders 31 (Jonah Lowe 2, Caleb Tangitau, Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens tries; Cameron Millar 4 con, pen)
Waratahs 26 (Andrew Kellaway, Apolosi Ranawai tries, Leafi Talataina, Sid Harvey tries; Sid Harvey 3 con)
Halftime: 28-7
