Chiefs fullback Damian McKenzie has hailed the 'special' Super Rugby Pacific milestone victory over the NSW Waratahs at Sydney.
The long-time servant brought up 100 games for the team, as they held out a determined Waratahs outfit to stay unbeaten this season.
McKenzie may have been born in Invercargill, and schooled in Christchurch, but Hamilton is where he has called home for the past decade.
He was proud to reach the ton in front of his family and friends in attendance at Allianz Stadium, and even more so to come away with the win.
"It's special," McKenzie told Sky Sport post-match. "It's a club I hold dear to my heart, moved up to Hamilton about 10 years ago and never looked back, it's the greatest move I've made.
"Some lifelong friends come to work every day with these boys, and put a smile on my face and we get busy and go to work and it's good fun.
"Tonight, it was nice to get a win, and hopefully, celebrate it after this. I just want to thank the Tahs as well for a hard-fought game.
"Obviously, my family has come over as well, so appreciate all the support they've shown throughout my whole career, they'll drop everything at the drop of a hat to come and support me, appreciate that.
"It's a special region - Chiefs country and I'm proud to be a part of it, and proud to be part of a special group."
The victory preserves the Chiefs' perfect start to the season, with five wins from five, including three bonus points.
While it wasn't necessarily pleasing to the eye, Chiefs captain Sam Cane was delighted to come away with the points against a tricky opposition.
"A real arm wrestle, we were describing it like that at halftime too. But to be fair, it's what we expected, the Waratahs, despite some of the results not going their way, they're a quality outfit," he told Sky Sport post-match.
"We were really just hoping tonight they didn't quite click and put all the pieces together, but they put us under a lot of pressure and as a result, ended up dropping a lot of pill.
"Discipline wasn't always the best, and it was a real arm wrestle. They defended extremely well, and we had to work really hard for it tonight.
"Just getting our ball carry right, we were running a little bit too high. They were having quite a lot of success holding us up, and if they weren't holding us up, they were giving us really slow ball.
"Our whole game flows around that, when we get that sort of ball, we've got the shape and the backs that can create one-on-ones, so that's the area of improvement.
"We're just really pleased to grind out a tough win, they're not always pretty, you take a lot of confidence from those because they're the real character games and it's really nice we can get a good win our mate Damian on his 100th - he's a special man."
