The Crusaders finished in front on Saturday afternoon in Christchurch, winning 25-22 thanks to a last-gasp dropped goal from replacement Mitch Hunt.
It was a tough result to take for the Highlanders, who showed plenty during the game and shaded the second 40 minutes.
But it could not put a Crusaders side away which was tenacious throughout and did just enough.
Hunt's dropped goal was a beauty - from 45m out - and that is what in the end often decides these close games: a piece of individual magic by one player.
The Highlanders were gutsy and rugged in both attack and defence.
The Crusaders were on the wrong end of referee Glen Jackson's whistle at times, especially in the first half, and the Highlanders slowly wore them down after they skipped out to a 12-0 lead in just over quarter of an hour.
Highlanders No8 Luke Whitelock was one of the best for his team and was far from downcast at the end of the match.
``It was one of those one that went to the wire. It was pretty physical and intense. It was just a reflection of what it meant for both teams, I think,'' he said.
``At the end we wanted to stick to our processes and keep attacking. The game comes down to key moments and he did pretty well to slot that from 45m out.
``It was gutting yeah, absolutely. We had put a good effort on ... but everyone dug really deep. There was some awesome stuff out there from the guys and they can hold their heads up high.''
The game was affected by a soft pitch causing players to fall over and that impacted on defence at times.
The Highlanders made a sloppy start, conceding a try to halfback Mitchell Drummond after a couple of minutes.
The points kept coming through winger Seta Tamanivalu after the Crusaders found a gap in the defence.
But slowly the Highlanders attack got going and the visiting side made the most of the extra man when Crusaders flanker Heiden Bedwell-Curtis was yellow carded for a stray boot in the ruck.
Winger Richard Buckman scored a try after an overlap was created.
Waisake Naholo then scored two nice tries in the second half - one showed some nice dribbling skills and the other was an intercept.
But Hunt then came forward to be the man of the hour, slotting only the second dropped goal of his career.
He said afterwards it was an impromptu act after prop Wyatt Crockett yelled at him to ``just do something''.
He did and it broke the Highlanders' hearts.
Best for the visiting team were Whitelock and lock Tom Franklin while out the back Marty Banks was good in everything he did and Naholo had his best game of the season.