Leicester Tigers' 12-9 win over Exeter at a sold-out Sandy Park was as ugly as they come.
With 20 minutes to go and the score tied at 9-9, it was anyone's game.
Defences were so on top that there was only one genuine try-scoring chance throughout the whole contest.
It was gruelling, attritional and hardly a game for the purists. Proper winter rugby on a snowy weekend that was supposed to be in spring.
Whatever the conditions, with a trip to Northampton on the horizon, it was absolutely vital that Leicester were the ones to be celebrating at the end.
Lose this one and they would simply have had to win all of their remaining games to have any hopes of a top-two Aviva Premiership finish.
When replacement scrum-half Will Chudley snared opposite number Ben Youngs in an offside with 11 minutes left, Toby Flood stepped up to make sure it was indeed Leicester who had their arms aloft at the end.
There was still time for a dramatic finish though. With 60 seconds left, referee Tim Wigglesworth penalised Tigers for taking a scrum down on their own 10-metre line and Gareth Steenson stepped up to try and tie the game.
You could hear a pin drop as his boot made contact with the ball at the very second time expired.
The Sandy Park crowd roared as the ball seemed to be heading straight between the sticks. But it held up in the wind and fell a metre short.
Leicester were rusty – as you would expect from a side trying to integrate seven internationals, who have been away on England duty for the last two months, back into the side.
The fact that those players had the mental strength and will to win after that monumental defeat in Cardiff just seven days previous, was a test of their professionalism.
On a day when few members of either squad stood out though, Tigers' engine room in the second-row was outstanding.
Geoff Parling stole three Cheifs' line-outs in defence and ran a set-piece that gave Tigers solid ball time and time again.
His partner in crime, Ed Slater was immense. A big presence in the line-out too, he loves the dirty work around the fringes and made in-roads in the loose every time he touched the ball.
Judging by this showing and his performance against Sale in the previous league game, I would be amazed if he didn't make England's summer tour of Argentina.
Around them was an organised defence and plenty of guts and valour.
Exeter would not have scored a try had they still been playing now.
Tigers struggled with ball in hand though. Exeter hurried them and the visitors could never secure the quick ball or the number of phases necessary to put the home side's defence under pressure.
Rustiness was a justifiable excuse on this occasion with so many internationals back from two months away.
However, Tigers need to be more clinical in finding space when they secure turnover ball.
They also have to finish more of the tries they have been creating in the last six games.
Sale aside, too many opportunities have gone begging.
Saturday's butchering of a wonderful opportunity just cannot happen if they are win this title.
The chances will be few and far between over the coming weeks and in any semi-final or final.
That blown opportunity came when Manu Tuilagi burst through a rare hole in the home side's back-line and passed to Mat Tait, who got suffocated by tacklers after ignoring the option of Tom Croft on his outside. It seemed easier to score at one stage.
That chance arose after 36 minutes with the boots of Toby Flood and Gareth Steenson having dominated play up until then.
A converted try would could have put Leicester 16-6 ahead. Instead, Exeter cleared their lines, won a penalty and Steenson made it 9-9 at the break.
The second half was attritional and chanceless, until Flood maintained his perfect kicking record with the game's deciding moment.
