The Bay of Plenty rugby league team have broken an 11-year losing streak to their Waikato counterparts - winning 30-28 at Puketawhero Park.
It was a match which "could have gone either way" said first-time Bay of Plenty coach Doug Unuwai.
"I'm proud, you know, we've been having our ups and downs with our team the last few days," he said. "But we've come through, we picked a team who put their hands up and did the job for us."
Both teams were hit with the lack of player availability with a number of players on Waicoa Bay Stallion duty.
The small but vocal crowd may have thought history was doomed to repeat itself when Waikato jumped out to a 12-point lead in as many minutes.