Crusaders coach Scott Robertson has won bragging rights over Blues rival Leon MacDonald, guiding the Barbarians home 35-31 over All Blacks XV at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
With each side scoring five tries, the result came down to goalkicking, with French first-five Antoine Hastoy and former Blues/Hurricanes first-five Ihaia West converting all five Barbarians touchdowns.
Fielding a much-changed line-up from the one that overran Ireland A the previous week, the NZ side were unable to recapture that form, finishing their two-match northern tour with a win and loss.
An early highlight saw the five NZ members of the Barbarians team - West, captain Luke Whitelock, winger George Bridge, halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Charlie Ngatai - answer the visiting haka in kind.
All Blacks XV snatched the early advantage through a try from Bryce Heem, but lost their momentum, when flanker Tom Christie was yellow-carded for cynical play.
The two sides went try for try, with the Barbarians leading 21-17 at halftime, after a big tackle on centre Levi Aumua saw the ball spill loose and counterpart Joe Marchant capitalised to score.
New Zealand struck first after the break, with fullback Shaun Stevenson scoring in the corner, but the Barbarians counterattacked off Brad Weber's box-kick, with Hastoy and Marchant kicking ahead, and the latter offloading to wing Teddy Thomas to score.
Barbarians seized control of the contest, when they were next to score again through replacement halfback Rhys Webb, before Stevenson was sin-binned for taking Webb out off the ball.
Bailyn Sullivan scored for All Blacks XV, who had one last chance to grab victory, but were frustrated at an attacking lineout to fall short.
Barbarians 35 (Mercer, Marchant, Thomas, Webb & Tagitagivalu tries; Hastoy 4 conversions, West conversion) All Blacks XV 31 (Heem, Dickson, Nankivell, Stevenson & Sullivan tries; McKenzie 3 conversions)
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