It is a measure of how far the Hurricanes have come that coach Mark Hammett pauses when asked if he would have taken the team's three-win, two-loss start before the season kicked off.
"I suppose, yes, we would. But we're also realistic," he said. "We've got three wins and two losses and that could easily have been one-win [and four losses] if you think about the Lions and the game on the weekend against the Blues."
That 26-25 victory over a Blues side featuring former Hurricanes Piri Weepu and Ma'a Nonu at Eden Park is Hammett's high point of a season which has already surprised onlookers who expected him and his team to implode.
Instead of a disaster following the well-documented departures of Weepu, Nonu and Andrew Hore, it has proven to be something of a triumph for the former Crusaders assistant coach.
Before the season started, he promised a new work ethic from his players. He has got that and more. The Hurricanes picked up a victory over the Lions in South Africa - after giving the Stormers a scare in Cape Town in round one - and beat the Force in Perth before losing narrowly at home to the Highlanders. Then came the last-minute thriller against the Blues when Conrad Smith capitalised on a break by Beauden Barrett to score with 15 seconds remaining. Barrett then coolly slotted the conversion for the win.