Ardie Savea's Moana Pasifika produced a stunning 45-29 upset win over the Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday to deny the 14-times champions top spot in the Super Rugby Pacific standings after Round 7.
With the table-topping Chiefs enjoying a bye, the Crusaders had been expected to move above them but Moana finally produced a complete 80-minute performance to claim a first ever win over the New Zealand powerhouse.
Captain Savea scored the first two of their six tries in the opening 16 minutes to set the tone and flyhalf Patrick Pellegrini's kicking game kept the Crusaders on the back foot as the 2022 expansion team claimed a well-deserved victory.
"No one was expecting us to win so the message was for the boys just to jam and play with nothing to lose," said All Blacks number eight Savea, who moved to Moana for this season.
"We certainly did that tonight. We came here, we did the job and I'm just proud of the boys. They deserve everything that comes their way."
The Queensland Reds did take advantage of the Chiefs' bye when they prevailed 28-24 over Western Force in a hardfought Australian derby to close out the round in Brisbane on Saturday evening.
The teams went try-for-try at a rain-soaked Lang Park to go into halftime locked up at 21-21 and Ben Donaldson edged the Perth-based Force ahead with a penalty in the 57th minute.
Wallabies scrumhalf Tate McDermott came off the bench to score the winning try from close range in the 72nd minute, however, and the Reds muscled up in defence to close out the win.
"We're really happy with where we're at at the moment," said Reds skipper Ryan Smith.
"But obviously there's a lot of footy still to be played this year and we've got some really tough tests coming up over the next couple of weeks."