Watching the Highlanders is never the easiest of occupations.
Plenty of ups and plenty of downs. And it is always a full 80 minutes.
The side under Jamie Joseph always has a close game. Like always. The number of clear defeats or by the length of the straight victories are as rare as a Kim Dotcom 40 hour famine.
Most games it is heart in the mouth stuff in the dying minutes. But they bucked the trend tonight beating the Stormers 39-21 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
The home side made the most of the chances that came along and had some matchwinners in the backs which were too much for a misfiring Stormers
outfit.
The visitors were without key man Duane Vermeulen and it showed.
They were one-dimensional in attack and never looked threatening in the backs.
In contrast the home side has some lethal finishers who know where the tryline is and can sniff out a chance like a starving dog passing the mutton factory.
Big wingers Waisake Naholo and Patrick Osborne got three tries between them and always looked dangerous.
They ran havoc at times and the Highlanders know they can keep the ball going wide and the success will come.
The side will head into the bye this week in the top six and confident of more wins ahead.
The home team led 24-7 at the break and when Osborne went over early in the second half to extend the lead further the game was as good as over.
Replacement flanker Dan Pryor scored near the end as the Stormers put up the white flag.
The best for the home side, apart from the two livewire wingers, was first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga while up front flanker Elliot Dixon and lock Tom Franklin got through plenty of work.
New flanker James Lentjes, who came straight out of club rugby, made a fine debut for the Highlanders, getting round the paddock and making plenty of tackles.
But at the beginning of the match it did not look too easy for the men in blue. The game rather meandered along with mistakes littering both teams.
Eventually the Stormers awoke and scored the first try. After driving the ball up a few phases, Schalk Burger, playing his 100th game at this level for the franchise, ran into a small hole and released skipper Juan de Jongh who ran 10m to score.
The pass looked a bit dodgy from Burger but the five pointer stood.
But the Stormers then dropped the kick-off and the Highlanders swung on to attack.
They rumbled the ball up to the line and Aaron Smith darted off a breakdown and cheekily placed the ball beside the post for the five-pointer.
Then Naholo got in on the act.
He interceped a poor De Jongh pass and sprinted 45m to dive under the posts.
Right on the stroke of halftime, Aaron Smith put in a chip kick down the blindside and Naholo gobbled it up, ran over the top of Stormers fullback Cheslin Kolbe to score the try.
From there the home side never looked back.
The side has Easter off before facing the Crusaders in Christchurch in two weeks.
Highlanders 39 (Waisake Naholo 2, Aaron Smith, Patrick Osborne, Dan Pryor tries; Lima Sopoaga 4 con, pen; Marty Banks pen) Stormers 21 (Juan
De Jongh 2, Michael Rhodes tries; Kurt Coleman 2, Demetri Catrakillis con) Halftime: 24-7.
