Winning the second division title over neighbours Waipu proved to be just the tonic the Otamatea Hawks Rugby Club needed after a troubled start to the season.
The club has been through a lot of soul-searching this season after it earned promotion to the Southern Districts Premier Division - after winning
the title last year - before being forced to withdraw after failing to come up with the player numbers needed to field two teams.
On Saturday they came through a tough, abrasive test against Waipu to win the final 19-10.
A jubilant skipper Shane Robinson said putting the negative start of the season behind them had taken some time.
"That was a big hurdle for us because it really demoralised the club, but in the end we pulled together and came through and now we've won the second division title and that's what counts," he said.
Despite this year's failure to play premier grade rugby, Robinson said they would once again try and recruit players to achieve the goal.
"We need to try and go up because we've got a lot of young talent in our team - especially in the backs - with a lot of them still eligible for the under-20s, so we need them to play premier rugby in the future and hopefully we can do it next year," he said.
Otamatea winger Mike Tovine scored both tries for his side, with Toby Phillips kicking three penalties - the third 10 minutes from the end to give Otamatea some breathing space in the tense game.
Waipu remained in the game until the final whistle, however, and it was only desperate Otamatea defence that denied Waipu centre Matthew Abraham a try with five minutes to go that denied the black and gold Waipu supporters a knife-edge finish.
James Abraham scored Waipu's sole try, with Paul Carr adding the conversion and a penalty.
Robinson said it was the most physical game he had played all season, with both teams putting on a fitting final.
"We've played them twice this year and both games were very close and it's good to have the two top teams in the final today and still be so close right at the end," he said.
