Kaierau, still with some injury concerns, were playing like they were waiting for something to happen, whereas Marist were vowed and determined to make something happen – it proved the difference.
Nonetheless, no backline can prosper if the work up front isn't done, and the Marist forwards took a comfortable points decision from the scrap at the set piece and breakdown.
Plaudits will rightly go to the likes of gifted athletic prop Keightley Watson, who along with speedy centre Jack O'Leary came from a culture of winning with Metro, while Canadian import prop Marc Ouellet wasted no time in impressing when he came off the bench to charge through for Marist's last try.
But give a tip of the hat to the dirty workmen – skipper Brad Graham, who did a u-turn on retirement, lock Brad O'Leary, hooker Jack Yarrall and prop Cameron Neilson suffered through the multiple seasons of Kaierau dominating the derby – so each had a mountain of salt to rub into the wound.
The blowout was a sad way for Kaierau flanker Cade Robinson to finish up with his family club, as he will now depart to play on Australia's Sunshine Coast.
For the home side, No8 Ili Navatu was strong through the first half, winger Harry Unsworth produced some crucial cover defence with Marist's speedsters flying at him, while young halfback Curtis Krivan-Mutu showed great courage to produce a try-saving tackle despite his shoulder already being injured.
But with kicks missing direction, repeated penalties for offside, the normally reliable locks getting beaten in the air, and one-off attacking plays with no variation being shut down – coaches Tony McBride and Te Ahu Teki have a lot of work to do.
"The energy we talked about earlier in the week just didn't seem to be there again," said McBride.
"Obviously the penalty count – we can't win rugby when it's 12-4 in the second half, reasonably even in the first.
"There's a lot to work on around the ruck area, just our accuracy at the breakdown, and our defence was strong at times – but caught out going a bit too soon."
When the team had possession, they just weren't patient enough, McBride added.
"We've yet to play our structure. When we do in patches it looks good, but there's a long way to go."
For Marist coach Travers Hopkins, the result was the ultimate reward for three seasons of blind faith.
"We said from the outset we had to take the game to them, I think over the last couple of weeks we've kind of gone into our shells at times.
"Just a bit of self-belief, they're good enough to be in this game. I think they really took it to them, which was the difference."
Again, Kui deserved to be singled out.
"A performance like that today was probably a bit more stable – we've seen so many highlights of him doing what he does, but it was a real controlled performance today - put the boys in the right areas of the field, got his backs moving well."
Up front, Marist brought the hard-nosed mentality to win the derby – Watson and co signalling it could be a new era.
"You think of what Viki [Tofa]'s done and you think, 'is that guy replaceable'? But you have the likes of Keightley and even Marc coming over and just being part of the team and the culture, it's really exciting stuff," said Hopkins.
Marist will now take the bye week before they face the other Premier team building in confidence in the form of Settler's Honey Ngamatapouri.
Marist 41 (P Ponga, J Robertson, B O'Leary, R Kui, M Ouellet tries; R Kui 4 pen, 2 con) bt Kaierau 10 (E Robinson try, pen, con). HT: 11-10.
