The odds favoured Dunedin because all the omens were pointing in its direction before the club rugby final at Carisbrook on Saturday.
Dunedin beat Southern 11-10 in a tense premier final to claim its 10th banner, after finishing runner-up the past two years. Dunedin knew its chances were good because the last three banner winners had finished fourth in the Gallaway Trophy the same year they took the club honours: Alhambra-Union in 2006, Southern (2007) and Alhambra-Union last year.
Dunedin was fourth in the trophy this year.
It also knew the championship had not been won by the team that finished first or second in the Gallaway Trophy since the six-team quarterfinal format was introduced six years ago.
Things did not look promising for Southern, which shared the Gallaway Trophy with University A.
The Dunedin team received a further boost on Saturday morning when its under-12 team, the Dunedin Shamrocks, downed the previously unbeaten West Taieri side 15-14.
Dunedin's premier side's results have matched those of the Shamrocks this season.
"When the Shamrocks have won, the premiers have won, and when they have lost, the premiers have lost," club captain Ross O'Connell told the Otago Daily Times.
"It was a good omen this morning so I rang Ed Baker after the game and predicted a one-point win in the final."
Baker and Mark Scully have coached the Dunedin premier team for the past three years, so the win was satisfying.
Baker had coached two Dunedin Colts teams to banners but this was his first success at premier level.
It was 10th time lucky in a final for Scully - three times as a player and seven times as a coach for Old Boys (Invercargill), Wakatipu and Dunedin.
Also on the coaching staff was Ross Hanson, who coached Dunedin when it last won the banner in 2005.
It was the second championship banner for captain Scott McKee, who won his first in 2005.
His parents, Malcolm and Carol, drove up from their farm at Waikaia in Southland to watch the game.
There are several students in the Dunedin team and their parents travelled from around New Zealand for the match.
Michael Gurran comes from Hawkes Bay, Tim Fraser from Auckland, Fraser Lau from Wellington, Joe Bradley from the West Coast and Robbie Smith from North Otago.
Also present was Dunedin life member John Dowling, who watched Dunedin win its third banner in 1951 when he was a primary school pupil.
He has been at Carisbrook for every banner win since then.
