After Border dominated the first half, scoring more tries than either of their previous two title wins over Taihape, the club from the east rallied in customary fashion - opening up attacking channels down the far touch for both their midfielders Cyrus Tasi and Tawake Vuetibau to dot down and put their noses ahead 23-17 with 10 minutes left.
In a white-hot atmosphere, the Taihape supporters with their customary chainsaws had found full voice.
But Border stayed composed and backed their scrum where prop Ranato Tikoisolomone, deserved player of the day for the second year in a row, had been absolutely dominant, pushing against a Taihape pack with five current or former Steelform Whanganui representatives.
Both sides had their struggles in the lineout under pressure, Taihape not getting their usual service on that front, and in trying to stop the champions’ carries at the death, they gave away a succession of ruck penalties.
Into the last 90 seconds, Taihape stopped a five-metre scrum drive from Border, but veteran halfback Lindsay Horrocks swiftly linked with second five Silio Waqalevu and reserve fullback Tyrone Albert to put young reserve winger Luke Myers over in the clock tower corner.
Proven match-winning kicker Nick Harding (three from three) had just been subbed for Albert, and so up stepped Clare, who with his first kick attempt of the match after 80 minutes of punishment, coolly slotted the conversion from the touchline.
There was only enough time left for the restart, which Border’s pack pulled down and fittingly it fell to Clare to boot the ball out and end his outstanding career by lifting his sixth Rosebowl Trophy from seven attempts - the Border four-peat and previously back-to-back with McCarthy’s Transport Ruapehu in 2017-18.
While Clare gets the headlines, a couple of Border’s unsung heroes deserve to be singled out.
With Josefa Namosimalua still on a blue card stand-down, Border decided to start Corey Furness at blindside flanker ahead of veteran Bryn Hudson, and he rewarded them with a crucial first-half try - driving low off the ruck at the line.
Having had an injury-plagued season, young lock Ngapuke Patea made a succession of strong carries around the park to win his first Premier gold medal.
Of the franchise players, the standouts included centre Alekesio Vakarorogo, who made some hard tackles and, like Tasi, scored a try in consecutive grand finals, while No 8 Kieran Hussey faced down Taihape’s big hitters and kept coming.
For Taihape, once again so close but so far away, flanker Luke Whale stepped up to take over the goal-kicking duties despite not having been first-choice since 2013, slotting three from five and being desperately unlucky to hit the upright on a sideline attempt.
Whale, his brother Ben, reserve hooker Jaye Flaws and the Hay-Horton’s in Hadlee, Slade and Peter-Travis worked themselves into the ground, while winger Ryan Karatau scored the try to start their comeback and along with fullback Tyler Rogers-Holden put a lot of pressure on the Border back three.
“It went down to the wire, we thought we had a good chance there, especially with two-three minutes to go,” said a philosophical Taihape coach Sefo Bourke.
“Just a couple of penalties and the scrum really struggled towards the end and obviously they scored, and the man that we thought might not play iced it for them,” Bourke said.
“I couldn’t have asked from anything more from the boys, they played right to the 80th minute, even with a minute to go they were still up.
“Border are a good team, and I guess just a little bit of execution there, especially after the two tries, I thought we obviously could have been a little bit better with ball retention and holding - trying to play the clock down.
“But that’s the way it goes.”
Having won the title in his rookie year as coach, Border’s Todd Cowan had expected nothing different from his previous trips to the final as assistant to Cole Baldwin.
“It was a nail-biter, we’ve never been in a final where it doesn’t come down to the wire, but I’ve got to take my hat off to Taihape - they played outstanding, especially in that second half,” Cowan said.
“To be honest, they were on top of us for most of that last 40 minutes, so we were very fortunate to come away with it.
“What an awesome way for Chocko [Clare] to finish it off with the kick from the sideline. Really happy.”
Cowan acknowledged the effort of Tikoisolomone and his fellow front rowers, with the rejuvenated Tikoisolomone having driven back his opposing props all season.
“Definitely, the boys worked really hard there and during the week with our scrum, and I thought we had dominance there at times, and Taihape won a couple back off us as well.”
Border 24 (A Vakarorogo, C Furness, L Myers tries; N Harding pen, 2 con, C Clare con) bt Taihape 23 (R Karatau, C Tasi, T Vuetibau tries; L Whale 2 pen, con). HT: 17-6.
