A severely understrength Chiefs have secured one of their greatest Super Rugby results, surviving raid after raid from a fast-finishing Blues to win Friday's clash 27-21 in Auckland.
Missing All Blacks Brodie Retallick, Charlie Ngatai, Kane Hames and Dominic Bird to injury, the Chiefs were down to the bare bones.
But sheer grit, some poor Blues finishing and a Sam Cane captain's knock allowed the Chiefs to limp over the line and extend their opponents' losing streak in Kiwi Super derbies to two years.
Blues centre George Moala wasted a good chance to score as the seconds ticked away, before a late penalty was squandered by a poor rolling maul.
Handed another late opportunity by the Chiefs' failure to kick the ball out, the Blues skewered a last-gasp lineout to condemn themselves to defeat.
They remain winless on the bottom of the Kiwi conference, while the undermanned Chiefs will take huge confidence from their backs-to-the-wall win.
It was bruising and resolute, but hardly pretty at Eden Park.
In a frenetic opening stanza, both sides took it to the other but frequently came up short with errors and poor decision-making.
Skipper Augustine Pulu went over off the back of some solid Blues mauling work in the seventh minute, before the Chiefs' Sean Wainui responded five minutes later.
Tit-for-tat try-scoring followed 10 minutes on, when a fleet-footed Akira Ioane crossed and Wainui followed by bagging his second.
In the second half, the Blues began their customary collapse.
A textbook driving maul sent Cane over in the 47th minute, before Brad Weber collected a stray Blues offload to dash 40 metres and score.
Blues playmaker Bryn Gatland pulled one back, ultimately in vain.
"One of the prouder days to be a Chief," Cane said.
"Every team has their fair share of injuries but this week has been relentless.
"We had some young guys come out there today, some of them pulling on the jersey for the first time, first year, and they really just stepped up."
Concerning for Test selectors, Chiefs prop Nepo Laulala went off with an apparent serious arm injury, while Pulu was also hurt late.
