After seven lead changes, South winger Will Jordan has provided the final decisive try in extra time to snatch a 38-35 win over North at the All Blacks interisland trial in Wellington.
With time up on the clock, North held a four-point advantage, after rallying from 10 down midway through the second half.
South laid siege on the goal-line, earning penalty after penalty, as their rivals desperately tried to thwart their attacking attempts.
Finally, after a lineout win in the left corner, first-five Josh Ioane kicked across field, where Jordan and North fullback Damian McKenzie both leapt high to contest the ball.
Jordan rose higher to snatch the ball out of the air and canter 15 metres for the game-winning try in a pulsating finish.
With an All Blacks team due to be named on Sunday morning, the Crusaders speedster certainly put his hand up for an international debut, continuing his sensational Super Rugby Aotearoa form.
North seized the early initiative, when centre Rieko Ioane scored the opening try after just three minutes, but moments later South prop Nepo Laulala was on the spot to respond.
Ironically, in a game that produced 10 converted tries, Jordie Barrett provided the eventual winning margin, when he kicked a penalty goal in the 11th minute. Those three points would come back to haunt the North, who were repeatedly penalised by referee Paul Williams for offside throughout.
The two sides went try for try throughout the first half - McKenzie for the North, then Barrett for the South for a 17-14 halftime advantage.
All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith entered the game at the break and scored next for the North, but successive tries to Jordan and prop Tyrel Lomax suddenly gave the southerners a double-figure lead and control of the match.
Back came the North, with Ioane grabbing a second and replacement hooker Ash Dixon scrambling over between the post to retake the lead, 35-31, with nine minutes remaining.
But they again found themselves on the wrong end of Williams' whistle and on the backfoot, as South mounted one final, desperate bid for victory, resulting in Jordan's clincher.
After an abridged Super Rugby season and with big question marks hanging over the All Blacks' upcoming fixtures, this may yet be the closest we get to international football in this COVID-19 landscape.
Whatever your reservations over the somewhat arbitrary North/South format - where players born on one island somehow found themselves representing the other - the spectacle did not disappoint.
South 38 (Jordan 2, Laulala, J Barrett & Lomax tries; Barrett 5 conversions & penalty) North 35 (R Ioane 2, McKenzie, Smith & Dixon tries; McKenzie 5 conversions)
