The Southern Kings showed their rich potential with a famous 31-30 Super Rugby victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.
Lionel Cronje kicked the winning penalty after the hooter as the Kings claimed the victory, just a day after it was announced that they would be axed from Super Rugby next season.
The victory ensures they will be the fourth best South African team in the competition this year, having won six of their 14 matches to date, but surely no victory will be as sweet as this one.
Wing Makazole Mapimpi, Cronje and fullback Malcolm Jaer scored tries for the Kings, while the home side crossed the line through lock Jason Jenkins, wing Duncan Matthews and hooker Jaco Visagie.
But it was the boot of Cronje that proved the difference as he landed two conversions, three penalties and a drop-goal for a personal haul of 16 points.
The teams traded early penalties, before the Kings grabbed the initiative as Mapimpi showed great strength to power through a tackle from Bulls fullback Warrick Gelant and score.
It was the end of a sweeping move for the Kings, who showed great quality in the offload and fast hands, a sign of the excellent work of skills coach Dave Williams.
The Bulls thought they had scored at the other end following a fine move when Travis Ismaiel finished, but Jenkins was penalised for a high tackle in the build-up and the try disallowed, with the latter also collecting a yellow card.
Three minutes later and the Kings extended their lead when they took the ball through the phases, before Cronje dotted down under the posts.
Shortly after that the Kings had a player of their own sin-binned when wing Wandie Mjekevu was also correctly penalised for a high tackle.
The Kings extended their advantage on the scoreboard to 22-3 though when fullback Jaer was sent clear by a clever inside pass from flank Chris Cloete and at that stage their looked only one winner.
But the Bulls gave themselves a lifeline on the stroke of halftime as Jenkins profited from some fine work by Ismaiel and Adriaan Strauss to score and the home side trailed by 10 points at the break.
They reduced that deficit further early in the second half as Matthews crossed in the corner three minutes into the second period.
Tiaan Schoeman made it a two-point game when he converted a penalty on the hour-mark, and the Kings were further hampered by a yellow card for lock Lubabalo Mtyanda.
It was a see-saw final 15 minutes when Schoeman landed another penalty to put the Bulls in front for the first time in the game, but Cronje landed a drop-goal to edge the visitors into the lead again.
That lead was extended to five points when Cronje concerted a penalty, but the Bulls looked to have stolen it at the death as replacement hooker Visagie bashed through a weak tackle to score.
When Schoeman converted the try the Bulls led 30-28 going into the final two minutes. But when the Bulls were penalised from a scrum, Cronje had the opportunity to win the game for his side and he made no mistake with the final action of the match.