Border needed to follow up what should have been the decisive moment right before halftime, when Ruapehu winger Shaquille Waara tried an ill-advised dropkick, which to coach Daisy Alabaster's horror was charged down as Border captain Lindsay Horrocks scored 80m back up field.
But fates can swing both ways in a playoff and Ruapehu winger Corey Carmichael saw his rushed chip kick under pressure turn to gold as Border winger Tom Symes lost control and then second-five Grayson Tihema slipped over after the rebound fell back into Carmichael's arms.
Harry Symes deliberately knocked down Carmichael's inside pass with the line open and referee Aaron Conlon pulled the yellow card with 12 minutes left.
Without Clare, Ruapehu went to the tried-and-true – the unbreakable will of their forward pack – as big reserve prop Mac James Edmonds and returning veteran Peter Rowe came on to join inspirational captain Roman Tutauha and flanker Jamie Hughes, who played most of the match with a busted nose.
But they were all being carried forward by prop Gabriel Hakaraia, who had perhaps his finest match in Ruapehu colours, as for 80 straight minutes he kept coming at Border, constantly taking every second hit up.
Before Carmichael's run, Hakaraia had already pushed Tutauha over the tryline after multiple Border infringements and phase buildup by the home pack, with Millar adding a pressure conversion for 27-21.
Ruapehu began to regain the momentum they had only held in the opening 20 minutes and then approaching halftime, before Horrocks stunned them.
With Symes watching forlornly from the far posts, a Millar free kick took his side right to the tryline corner flag, and after multiple drives following the lineout, working towards midfield, Border were stretched and Ruapehu swung back left with first-five Josh Fifita sprinting low and sliding through his tenacious opposite Tyler Rogers-Holden to make it 27-26 with five minutes left.
Home town hearts skipped a beat when Millar's conversion struck the far upright, but Ruapehu would not be denied as Rowe and Hakaraia dragged them back up the field from the restart, with Hughes and Edmonds right behind them.
Similar to 2017 at Cooks Gardens, once in the dangerzone Ruapehu worked with patience and control and this time Border infringed, as Millar redeemed with an easy shot in front.
For a delighted Alabaster, the next verse was the same as the first – never, ever, give up.
"It was big balls," he said.
"They did what we trained to do, kept hold of the ball.
"The drop goal was never on."
Recovering from that disaster, the penalties for Alabaster's team were timely in the fourth quarter and it was the added emphasis of Millar, Rowe and Edmonds that proved the difference.
But the coach had to single out Hakaraia, who was dominant in the first half and then found a second wind for his team's comeback.
"If he's not in the Heartland squad, I'll eat my bloody hat."
With his team denied at the death for the second year in a row, Border coach Ross Williams praised a young squad which has had a lot of behind-the-scenes adversity to deal with.
"I thought we played some outstanding rugby. Discipline at the end of the day cost us," he said.
"Full credit to Rua, they never give up.
"I thought we had the plans in place. It's not about the kicks, it's the discipline to get there [and] that hurts."
Williams took umbrage at public perceptions that despite thrashing minnow teams in the last fortnight, his team would not show up in pressure games.
"We scored 190 points in two weeks, if that doesn't give you confidence, I don't know what does."
Border were not looking confident in the opening exchanges as they dropped the kickoff and Ruapehu found holes, with lock Jackson Campbell just stopped short, and a few minutes later a pass was spilled with three Ruapehu players available to score in the scoreboard corner.
Despite some aggressive tackling by Border flanker Angus Middleton, while Harding moved to the midfield to watch Brown, Ruapehu had momentum and after bursts by Hakaraia and flanker Jack Kinder, Brown worked into a gap and Waara was there to dash under the posts.
Border hit back immediately as Ruapehu turned over the ball and flanker Jason Myers hit it up, before Rogers-Holden went wide and with the outside defence watching Harding and Symes, he just cleverly eased into the half gap to score.
Border upped their tempo around the fringes of the breakdown, using loose forwards in the backline, and were rewarded when hooker Dylan Pearce pumped his way into a gap, and from the ruck recycle, lock Jack Hodges burrowed across for 12-7.
The pendulum swung again when Clare, despite his pain, attacked following a penalty lineout and offloaded to Brown inside, with his midfield partner just held up by his foot at the tryline but still finding halfback Kahl Elers-Green to score, Waara taking the kick for Clare at 14-12 after 24 minutes.
Border again hit back immediately as Rogers-Holden opened up a chance for lock Chris Breur, and Ruapehu prop Te Uhi Hakaraia dove at a ball which wasn't freed up yet, allowing Harding to add the easy three points.
Harding began to line up Brown for a couple of monster tackles, but Gabriel Hakaraia got his team right back on attack with a series of surges and short passes.
Yet when Ruapehu were stopped in front of the chalk with two minutes till the break, the call went out for Waara to go to the pocket, and Horrocks read it as the ball was charged with no-one near the halfback except Rogers-Holden, giving his skipper a cheering escort to the far tryline.
Harding would narrowly miss crucial penalties on either side of Symes' second half try, before Ruapehu came charging home off the lift in intensity from their bench players, the courage of Hakaraia, and the boot of Millar.
Ruapehu 29 (Shaquille Waara, Kahl Elers-Green, Roman Tutauha, Josh Fifita tries; Mitchell Millar pen, con, Craig Clare con, Waara con) bt Border 27 (Tyler Rogers-Holden, Jack Hodges, Lindsay Horrocks, Harry Symes tries; Nick Harding pen, 2 con). HT: 22-14 Border.
