With both Wakatipu and Arrowtown rugby teams coming away from the weekend with wins, Saturday's battle of the basin between the two sides is shaping up to be another epic encounter.
Wakatipu, with former All Black Justin Marshall on debut, staged an impressive come-back on Saturday to lower the colours of Maniototo, featuring All Blacks and Highlanders Andrew Hore and Tony Woodcock, at the Queenstown Recreation Ground and retain the White Horse Cup, having trailed 15-3 at halftime.
Coach Damian Petre said his team's performance in the first half did little to calm his nerves, but a momentum change after the break enabled the 2012 Central Otago champions to ''come home with a wind in their sail''.
''I guess we just started a bit slowly, but Maniototo in a White Horse Cup game are always going to be fired up.
''Our fitness and strength off our bench going into the second half [paid dividends]. We wore them down.''
Two tries apiece to Rhys Collins and Danny King and one from Pita Wilson - all in the second spell - took the home side to a 34-24 win, retaining the White Horse Cup.
Player of the Day for Wakatipu was hooker Chris Campbell. However, Petre paid tribute to impact players Apana Tuau and Pita Wilson who came off the bench.
Arrowtown beat Roxburgh in Roxburgh 55-14, with vice-captain Daniel Eyles scoring three tries.
Other try-scorers were Iain Banks, Tyne Schofield, Henry Bensmann and Cathal Finneran, all scoring one each, and Kane Dodds with two.
Coach Hayden Finch said overall Arrowtown's game needed work and the team would need to ''improve a lot'' for this weekend's battle-of-the-basin match against Wakatipu.
''They are obviously the team to beat,'' Finch said.
Wakatipu will play Arrowtown at Jack Reid Park, where kickoff is 2.30pm.
