It might have come about nine or 10 weeks too late, but Glenn Moore believes the Highlanders may have taken a significant stride in their painful development process.
And the coach is confident his side will show how far it has come when it plays the Blues at Carisbrook on Saturday.
Moore hailed the maturity and composure of his beleaguered Highlanders after they scraped their second win of the season against the Cheetahs at the weekend.
They took the hard road, playing with only 13 men for part of the game when Tom Donnelly and Blair Stewart were sin-binned and nearly throwing away a 17-point lead.
But the way the Highlanders responded to what threatened to be a disastrous snatching of defeat from certain victory heartened the coach.
They shut out the Cheetahs, held on to the ball and smartly wound the clock down to ensure victory in Bloemfontein.
"We were concerned how things were looking but the players knew they just had to stay calm and slow everything down," Moore said of the 31-28 win.
"They had to grind it out and I thought they showed a lot of backbone.
"I'm incredibly proud of how the guys responded in those last few minutes."
It was just the second win for the Highlanders, and for first-year coach Moore.
He has heard the wolves at the door in recent weeks as both his side's unflattering results and speculation about the future of the franchise have painted a grim picture of rugby in the South.
"We've certainly picked up that the Highlanders have been copping a bit of backlash in some areas," Moore said.
"We haven't won as many games as we would have liked, certainly.
But I don't think people can doubt our character, which really came to the fore today."
Moore and his players arrive back in Dunedin tomorrow, with just four days to prepare to challenge the Blues for the Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy.
The Highlanders beat the Blues at Carisbrook in the corresponding fixture two years ago, and thumped them in a pre-season game.
"I think everyone's looking forward to getting home and really getting up for the Blues game," Moore said.
"We're more confident.
We've taking a lot out of this win against the Cheetahs.
"The Blues are one of the big teams in the Super 14 but we've gone close against a lot of good teams this season."
The Highlanders sent four players home from South Africa early and now the injury toll is really mounting.
Matt Saunders (head knock), Johnny Leota (shin) and Clint Newland (shoulder) are all in doubt for the Blues game.
Glenn Moore
