Wellington It wasn't quite the celebration the Hurricanes envisioned in front of their home crowd, but when you've won six straight the spectacle can be forgiven.
And despite not being unable to get hold of the ball for any length of time, there was still a lot for the Hurricanes to like about their 36-12 bonus-point win over the Melbourne Rebels.
Defence is starting to define coach Chris Boyd's first Super Rugby season and it withstood another stern test against a Rebels team which had truckloads of ball, but little idea what to do with it.
If one-off runners and pods-of-three attacking waves were worth points the Rebels would have won this match by 100. Instead it was the Hurricanes who turned precious little possession into tries to half-back TJ Perenara, wing Cory Jane, openside Callum Gibbins and two to electric replacement full-back Nehe Milner-Skudder.
Despite the five tries, it was notable that the 13,210-strong crowd saved their biggest ovation for a successful Hurricanes defensive stand that saw Rebels centre Mitch Inman held up over the line, and another wave of advancing hordes repelled.
Without rested regular first five-eighth Beauden Barrett and power wing Julian Savea, the Hurricanes were down on firepower, but that wasn't an issue.
Boyd's boys looked good when they had possession, but for much of the match simply struggled to actually get their hands on the ball as the Rebels methodically advanced up the field.
You had to wonder what this Hurricanes side would have done with the ball their opponents enjoyed.
In No.8 Victor Vito they had an off-loading maestro, while Ma'a Nonu looked hungry and Milner-Skudder irrepressible in scoring both of his tries in the final five minutes.
The first half was what could only be described as a difficult watch.
The Rebels ground away with admirable efficiency, but little in the way of imagination,
They had clearly decided the best way to stop the Hurricanes' attack was to slow or steal the ball at the tackle and openside Scott Fuglistaller showed yet again why he's one of the best in the business over the ball.
But it didn't help his team's attack. The Rebels had four Mike Harris penalties and a two-point lead to show for their efforts at half-time.
The home side had very little ball, but clearly planned to use it at every opportunity.
A rare Rebels missed touch gave Jason Woodward a chance to counter-attack and Vito burst down the blind, then rolled the ball back inside to Perenara for the only try of the first half and a 7-3 lead.
The Hurricanes barely saw the ball for the next 20 minutes and despite two decent scoring opportunities could only manage one Woodward penalty before half-time.
Perenara could have expected a deserved telling off when he decided to short kick from his 22 with time up on the clock. The result was yet another Rebels breakdown penalty, which Harris converted into three points and a 12-10 lead.
Jane scored shortly after half-time and another Rebels turnover on the Hurricanes try line was punished when James Marshall kicked ahead and Gibbins got a fortuitous bounce to sprint 30 metres for his first Super Rugby try.
A final Rebels push was repelled, even with Perenara sin-binned for repeated infringements and Milner-Skudder grabbed a late brace to finish the job.
HURRICANES 36 (Milner-Skudder 2, Gibbins, Jane, Perenara tries; Woodward 4 cons, pen) d REBELS 12 (Harris 4 pens). Referee: Stuart Berry. Crowd: 13,210 at Westpac Stadium.
