In the first battle of the basin of the 2011 Central Otago rugby season Arrowtown came out on top, beating Wakatipu 28-19 to retain the White Horse Cup and secure four valuable competition points.
After trading penalties in the first half, Wakatipu went to the break with a 9-6 lead.
The Lakesiders started strongly with Ben Blakely damaging on attack and always managing to break the first tackle.
Unfortunately, none of his team-mates could follow up on his shoulder to continue the move.
Toi Roberts was another of the Wakatipu players who shone both on attack and defence.
These two loose forwards are a couple of class players Wakatipu can build its game around, but on Saturday, Arrowtown had them covered, denying any momentum the opportunity to grow.
Arrowtown would have been frustrated with its first half effort, but never a team to panic under the expert leadership of Aidan Winter, it was not far into the second spell it did away with the aimless midfield chip kicks and spun the ball wide, creating chances that eventually turned into points.
The first try was a moment of brilliance from winger Jone Nayalaga, who regathered his own kick and dived over in the corner.
Not long after the restart, Arrowtown was in again, in the opposite corner with Rhys Chamberlain on the end of a sweeping back move.
Although Wakatipu did fight back with a Toi Roberts try to move within seven points of the home side with 10 minutes to go, Arrowtown now had a stranglehold on the game and sealed the win with the final try of the game to No 8 Dan Isefo.
However, both teams were guilty of missed opportunities. Promising attacking moves were undone by forward passes or dropped ball.
The kicking in general play was also far from ideal but when the final whistle blew Arrowtown had done enough to claim victory.
Any victory no matter how imperfect over arch-rival Wakatipu is one to savour.
