Being better than before was Columba College's goal.
That just happened to bring it a third consecutive South Island secondary schools title.
The side powered through the draw and put away fellow Dunedin school St Hilda's Collegiate 7-1 in the final on Sunday.
Its dominance went beyond just winning - across seven games it scored 68 tries and conceded only seven.
Coach Dayna Turnbull said the culture and team vibe was key to the success.
The players worked for each other on the field and training was never seen as a chore.
Despite that it is never easy defending a title, particularly given this team also won last year's national title.
It had lost four senior players from that team, although retained a core group of year 13's which had been key over the past four years.
Dealing with the pressure of being the team to beat was always going to be key.
Rather than try to face it head on, Turnbull flipped the focus to remove that pressure completely.
``I said to the girls we have a target on our back, we are the team everyone wants to beat.
``So rather than saying we want to go back-to-back-to-back, we wanted to go better than we've been in the past.
``If we can do that no matter what target's are on our back there is no pressure, because we just want to be better than what we've ever been.''
The side had drawn plenty of praise and she felt it was on the way to being the best in her time at Columba.
It was planning to defend its national title later in the year.
Before that five of its players would trial for New Zealand teams in July.
Maia Joseph, Liv Preston, Brylee More and Olivia Fowler would all trial for the under-18 team.
Meanwhile captain Meg Sycamore will trial for the under-20 side.
