After losing their opening three games of Super Rugby Pacific this season, the Highlanders look to have finally found their groove.
In a potential banana skin of a game, the southerners dispatched Fijian Drua at Forsyth Barr Stadium to claim their second win on the bounce.
It will be a welcome relief to coach Clarke Dermody after a luckless start to the new campaign, with injuries ravaging the team, and with Saturday's fixture proving no different.
They had to overcome the late scratches of second-five Thomas Umaga-Jensen, lock Josh Dickson, and No.8 Hugh Renton to defeat a tricky Drua outfit.
But following two straight wins, the Highlanders can look ahead to next week's game against bottom-of-the-table Moana Pasifika with much optimism.
Highlanders captain Billy Harmon praised his team for fighting through the never-ending adversity, and believes it's finally starting to click for them.
"It's been a long time coming for us, to show a whole performance together and really build those moments and that's what it was all about this week, our execution, to build that momentum and that's what we've done," he told Sky Sport post-match.
"We know the Drua love to play that loose game and it's easy to get stuck into that game when you're against them but we just wanted to stick to our system and play our game.
"I don't think we've had a full team that's been named on Monday that's come through on the weekend, so everyone is just ready to play now and you've got to be.
"We had a couple of young guys come in…played unreal. Jackie Taylor on his debut, and Cam [Millar] played like he's been there for years, it's awesome to see."
Much of their resilience can be credited to the performance of fullback-come-second-five Sam Gilbert, who has become something of a 'Mr. Fix-It' for the Highlanders.
He seamlessly slotted into the midfield, grabbing a try, and also had five conversions to his name in an all-around masterclass.
Gilbert prides himself on his versatility, having finally been given an extended run in the Highlanders team.
"I don't know if technically I've played No.13, but probably have," he told Sky Sports post-match.
"It's something that I've worked on in the background all year, I haven't really had the opportunity to do it so far, but it's been there, 70 minutes is probably a bit more than I was expecting but it's more just the physicality.
"The more I play, the better I'm feeling. And as a group, the more we play together, the better we're feeling and it's starting to look better. We're starting to look more connected and things are starting to come off for us."
