Despite playing almost 20 minutes of the second half with 14 men, including the last nine minutes after both hard-working prop Hamish Mellow and then dynamic centre Alekesio Vakarorogo were sinbinned for professional fouls, the thin yellow and white line held, while Border turned to their ace in the hole fullback Nick Harding to keep them alive.
After a brilliant Vakarorogo dash in the fifth minute to set up Border's sole try to co-captain Angus Middleton, who worked himself into the ground, the Waverley club managed only one other penetration into Taihape's 10m zone, so it was Harding's long-range boot which proved crucial.
After a previously wayward season, he slotted six from six, whereas Taihape first-five Dane Whale, who had a free hand to run the game with his side having all the momentum, would only manage two from six.
But Taihape were never interested in leaving the outcome to their goal-kicker, as they out-scored Border three tries to one, being led non-stop by Player of the Day prop Hadlee Hay-Horton, his fellow prop Wiremu Cottrell, who scored off a lineout drive, aggressive skipper Matt Brown at lock and key distributor Tremaine Gilbert at No8.
When Taihape searched wide, having nullified Border's pace men for the most part, fullback Tyler Rogers-Holden and winger Tiari Mumby were dangerous, both scoring by twisting through 2m rucks, but other than those moments, it was Border trapping the ball or ripping it free, and then booting clear, which proved decisive.
Border halfback Lindsay Horrocks made a couple of priceless steals, while co-captain Craig Clare showed all his big match guile, including a piece of individual flair to nearly set up another try which gave Harding an easy penalty chance before halftime.
Normally, prop Kamipeli Latu, lock Jack Hodges, flanker Semi Vodosese and No 8 Ranato Tikoisolomone love creating front foot ball to set their speedsters loose, but Taihape starved them of it, so it was all hands to the pumps in the engine room instead.
"Championships are won on defence," said Border coach Cole Baldwin, who after obtaining the honour as a player has now added a Premier gold medal as a debut coach, just as his Taihape opposite Tom Wells had done the year before.
"Full credit to these boys, they wanted it, they weren't prepared to just give it away, which teams of the past may have," said Baldwin.
"Their mental strength was just outstanding."
All the pre-match thought had been centred on how Border were going to handle Taihape's aggressive work at the breakdown to stifle their vaunted pace attack, but in the end, they barely managed a handful of spreads or line breaks.
"We wanted to play at the right end of the field, but we still need to hold onto the ball as well, and when we kept on kicking the ball away we weren't really helping ourselves," said Baldwin.
"But credit where credit is due, the boys hung in there and just tackle, tackle, tackle. With the amount of ball Taihape had, they should have won by 30 points.
"Every final you got to learn to graft it out, these guys have done fantastic, been the most consistent side all season, they deserve this result.
"Congratulate Taihape for their efforts as well, they brought a whole lot to the table, but that's the way it is."
Wells could only shake his head at fulltime, wondering how a game they controlled by every metric except the scoreboard got away.
"No disrespect, but the better team didn't win today. But that's finals.
"We've had a few of them that have been this close.
"The boys played awesome today, absolutely dominated Border, but at the end of the day, they got the spoils and that's it. Until next year."
While the loss hurts, consecutive grand final appearances by virtue of winning away semifinals shows Taihape can still improve and remain a force on the Premier scene.
"Our team's probably got still a young age group, it's hard to say now, but we're all local boys, if we're not playing rugby, we'll be floating around," said Wells.
"These guys are only going to learn from this, we'll be more experienced next year, a year older, so no reason why we can't crack in again."
Border 22 (Angus Middleton try; Nick Harding 5 pen, con) bt Taihape 19 (Wiremu Cottrell, Tiari Mumby, Tyler Rogers-Holden tries; Dane Whale 2 con). HT: 16-12.
