With her side trailing 21-17 and time up on the clock, the 18-year-old replacement back created something from nothing with her step to catch the North Harbour Hibiscus defence flat and run through to score.
The Spirit won 24-21 in their Farah Palmer Cup championship game at North Harbour Stadium, denying the Hibiscus their first win over Otago in eight years.
Captain Julia Gorinski, who left the field after 30 minutes with a cut to the knee, said it was an anxious final few minutes on the sideline.
"It was a very nervous watch", Gorinski told Sky Sport.
"Every team is getting better and better every year, so we knew we were going to have to come up for a real fight but glad we stuck at it right until the end and managed to pull it off."
It was a gutsy effort from both teams and the Hibiscus were unlucky after coming back into the game.
The Spirit’s defence was stoic, but with five minutes to go, Hibiscus replacement Rialani Onesemo-Tuilaepa charged over to score and regain the lead.
It looked as though the game had slipped away, until Campbell’s moment of brilliance.
The Hibiscus — with 14 players on debut — defended well to keep the Spirit threats quiet early.
Winger Oceana Campbell’s footwork finally opened the space in the middle for the Spirit.
They shuffled towards the line and eventually scored through Zoe Frood — playing her 50th game — from a quick tap to lead 5-0.
The Hibiscus pulled together their best passage when Tsubasa Sasagawa stepped through the Spirit defence. She fell short, but the Spirit coughed up two penalties to give the Hibiscus another bite.
Lock Isabella East pumped the legs, reached out to score and the home team took a 7-5 lead.
Fullback Mikayla Suluape applied the gas from about 60m out and looked to be in for her side’s second try.
But Spirit winger Jamie Church chased her down and made a brilliant try-saving tackle.
The Hibiscus held a 7-5 lead at halftime.
They emptied their bench at the break, looking to inject some experience.
Centre Moana Malupo-Courtenay was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock down when the Spirit were on attack.
The Spirit made the most of that when Sheree Hume finished off an easy try for a 12-7 lead.
The Hibiscus gave up a lot of ball in the collision, which played into the Spirit’s hands.
After a nice interchange down the left wing, Oceana Campbell had a strong carry, and as three Hibiscus player tried to take her to ground, she popped the ball up to Hume, who shimmied down the blindside to score again and extend to a 17-7 lead.
The Hibiscus responded with their own dazzling footwork from Suluape to score.
In the other championship games, Wellington thumped Tasman 51-12 and Manawatu dealt Taranaki an 86-7 thrashing.
In the premiership, Auckland beat Northland 48-17, Counties-Manukau upset Canterbury 47-24, and Waikato beat Bay of Plenty 42-26.
Farah Palmer Cup
The scores
Otago Spirit 24
Sheree Hume 2, Zoe Frood, Te Atawhai Campbell tries; Hume con, Georgia Cormick con.
North Harbour Hibiscus 21
Isabella East, Mikayla Suluape, Rialani Onesemo-Tuilaepa tries; Suluape 3 con.
Halftime: Hibiscus 7-5.
