But then a single kick, touch or refereeing call might bring everything crumbling down.
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Dean Widders gathered his own kick to touch down on the right after Saints were unable to clear the ball.
Gillies scored it, just reward for his hard work, catching Craig Brown's cross-field kick to touch down in the corner.
Catching a deep kick in touch the France international took the throw to himself and then chipped the on-rushing Munster defenders.
Sinfield missed his kick and 10 minutes later Bradford punished Leeds when Evans outjumped three Rhinos to catch Deacon's cross-kick to touch down.
Leeds then scored a second try when Meli - a player the Rhinos targeted throughout - failed to flick a McGuire grubber kick into touch.
Saints were reeling at this point before Gardner gave them a lifeline when he took Sean Long's lofted kick to touch down midway through the first half.
Referee Watkins awarded the first penalty try after Neath full-back Darril Williams had been brought down in full flight while attempting to touch down his own kick ahead.
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And it went from bad to worse for the visitors as, with just seconds remaining of the half remaining, Hinton thumped the ball down field rather than kick to touch.
Halligan's goal cut the deficit to just two points and three minutes later New Zealand re-gained the lead when Barnett leaped high to take Jones' high kick and touch down.
Castres emerged with a spring in their step after the interval, and their determination to win the game was illustrated when they spurned a kick at goal inside Saints' 22 to instead kick to touch.
Ajuwa was penalised for a dangerous spear tackle on Brady in the same move, the visitors choosing to kick to touch but knocking on from the next attack to allow the home side to clear.
Percy Montgomery gave the Sharks the lead with an early penalty before Bulls number eight Pierre Spies went over from a line-out after skipper Victor Matfield opted to kick for touch instead of going for goal after winning a penalty.
On Saturday, Lee Byrne's missed kick to touch was gleefully seized upon by New Zealand, who led just 13-12 at the time and had Daniel Braid in the sin-bin, and ended with Hosea Gear scoring his second try of the match.
On the half-hour, Simon Easterby finished off a big heave from the forwards by touching down but the biggest cheer came five minutes from the break when Namibia moved to within a yard of the Irish try-line, having opted to kick for touch rather than for goal when in the Irish 22.
And Gloucester went further ahead when Mark Foster collected his own kick through to touch down, although the try was only awarded after lengthy consultation with the video referee.
Wasps centre Steve Kefu had just fired a kick directly into touch when Robson became embroiled in an off-the-ball scuffle and aimed a head-butt at Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson.
St Helens took the lead on seven minutes when they were awarded a scrum close to the line after Dimitri Pelo was bundled into touch from a Sean Long kick.
But the Irish wilted in the closing minutes, and after Scelzo had forced his way over Bartolucci won the race for a kick ahead to touch down inches inside the dead-ball line.
Warrington were certainly not daunted by their high-flying visitors and went in at the break in the lead, as Fa'afili dived over to catch and touch down Lee Briers' kick into right-hand corner.
Charnley then extended Rovers' lead when he collected a kick from Dobson to touch down.
Bosc's clever hanging kick allowed Greenshields to touch down and then a teasing grubber from Bosc saw McGuire dive full length to ground the ball.
With 80 minutes on the clock, they chose to kick a penalty into touch by the corner flag and drove the subsequent lineout over the Exiles' line for the Sheasby try.
The Blues went ahead for the first time when Ugo Monye's kick failed to find touch and was gathered up by Tom James, who off-loaded to support runner Spice, who touched down.
One of the Leinster man's first contributions was an overcooked kick that sailed directly into touch, leading to Wales' controversial try that ultimately proved the difference between the two sides.
Minutes after Saha had sent a crashing diving header wide from a flowing Everton move, former Middlesbrough striker Yakubu levelled when he got the decisive touch on Arteta's free-kick from six yards out.
At the very start of the second half, Saints came up with another error, Ade Gardner's mistake allowing the kick-off to bounce into touch.
The Wildcats then followed up with another try in quick succession, Leo-Latu stretching to pluck a Ben Jeffries kick out of the air and touch down.
Ji-Sung scored with an effort from point-blank range after being the quickest to react after Friedel parried a Ronaldo free-kick and Solskjaer added the finishing touch to the win with his late strike.
The fly-half's fourth penalty was his best, the kick sneaking over from wide on the touch-line to take the Scots two scores clear.
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