Otago kept its impressive winning record against North Harbour alive with a 24-13 victory in a scrappy match at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
It has not lost to North Harbour since 2010 and it was the province’s sixth win in a row.
The victory has cemented its position at the top of the Championship standings in the Mitre 10 Cup.
Otago coach Cory Brown was satisfied with the result but a little critical of the performance.
"It was one of those games that was a little bit scrappy and sometimes they can get away from you," he said.
"It is really pleasing to get the win even though we did not perform our best. But Harbour put us under pressure. It was a tough match."
Brown felt Otago was not as disciplined as it needed to be and "probably gave away too many penalties".
"Once you start giving away 10, 12, 15 penalties, you put yourself under pressure because they can kick it down and you end up in the wrong part of the field.
"We probably tried a few too many 50-50 passes as well."
For the second week in a row, Otago kept its opponent scoreless in the final 40 minutes.
There were definitely some hairy moments, though.
Fletcher Smith made a critical intercept when North Harbour had an overlap on the outside and also made a telling covering tackle.
Mitchell Scott popped up at the right time and cut off a pass heading towards an unmarked player as well.
"There were periods in that second half where our defence was awesome. Guys were making tackles and getting up and finishing those tackles off.
"It is going really well and we’ve been really pleased about that. Our focus for the year was to improve our defence and I think that is happening."
Otago led 14-13 at halftime and scored early in the second spell when halfback Jonathan Ruru dragged several tacklers closer to the line.
Hooker Sam Anderson-Heather picked the ball up and barged over.
Smith added a penalty in the 55th minute to stretch the lead to 24-13.
Harbour had opportunities to score, particularly on the left flank, where Highlanders new recruit Tevita Li was stationed.
But someone kept getting in the way of the last pass.
Earlier, Otago possibly got a little lucky.
Lock Tom Franklin freed his arms and got an offload away to prop Craig Millar, who dashed 20m to score in the 12th minute.
The ball looked like it went forward.
The try was referred to the TMO, Chris Hart, and he was happy the ball had got backwards when it left Franklin’s mitts.
"I thought it was fine," Brown said.
"Tom offloaded around the corner and it did not look like it went forward to me, and was probably the right decision, I think."
Harbour replied 10 minutes before the break when second five-eighth Michael Little carved through and got the ball to centre Matt Vaega to finish off.
Vaega had a strong game.
He palmed off quite a few would-be tacklers but Harbour was not able to find its way to the chalk again.
Otago No8 Paul Grant had a storming game.
He made several telling bursts, including one out of defence when Otago was stuck under its goalposts.
"His work rate is second to none and it is awesome to see him in open space and running with the ball."
Grant was pleased with his form but more elated for the team.
"Six in a row is bloody good but we are not getting carried away with that, to be honest," Grant said.
On the injury front, Franklin is nursing a groin strain and fullback Michael Collins has a tight calf.
By the way, the 1998 team won the title with six straight wins.
The 1999 team added another two wins to the streak before Otago had to settle for a 18-18 draw with Southland.
It was unbeaten in 11 games before Auckland dished out a 45-10 hiding.
Mitre 10 Cup
The scores
Otago 24
Craig Millar, Sam Anderson-Heather tries; Fletcher Smith con, 4 pen
North Harbour 13
Matt Vaega try; Bryn Gatland con, 2 pen
Halftime: Otago 14-13.