The local derby between the Wakatipu Premiers and Arrowtown Bulls on Saturday was a fight for survival in the Central Otago Championship as the semifinals draw near, and Wakatipu came out with the sort of determination you would expect from a team with its season on the line.
The hosts had 3 points before Arrowtown even managed to get its hands on the ball.
And that was the theme of the first half as a confident Wakatipu piled on the pressure, dominating possession and territory.
Rewards came in the form of a second Steven Riddley penalty and a 6-nil lead after 15 minutes.
Whenever Arrowtown did manage to get its mitts on the ball it only compounded its problems with poor handling that gave Wakatipu more opportunities.
There was a sense of inevitability when Wakatipu scored the first try of the game after 30 minutes, with winger Rich Sims touching down after a twinkle-toed Damien Petre ghosted through the Arrowtown midfield.
However, with only 11 points to show for such an impressive period of dominance, it looked like Wakatipu had not capitalised as perhaps it should have, particularly as Arrowtown looked to be finding its way towards the end of the half, picking up 3 points from its only scoring opportunity.
After the break and a little bit more ball Arrowtown settled into its work with the loose forward trio of Aidan Winter, Dan Iosefo and Ben Chisholm running at the Wakatipu D-line and off-loading at will.
It was after one such run from No 8 Chisholm that centre Rhys Chamberlin scored under the sticks to bring Arrowtown to within one point of Wakatipu.
Unfortunately for the hosts, the promise they showed in the first half had all but fizzled out and when Arrowtown brought on experienced replacements Hayden Finch and Daniel Dodds the team seemed to find another gear that Wakatipu could not match.
Arrowtown took the lead when young flyhalf Josh Brazier touched down after simple but effective forward driving had brought the visitors to within inches of the line.
By now Arrowtown was running freely, with clever little offloads and short passes putting men in space.
The Wakatipu defence was caught back-pedalling and unable to man up, resulting in Arrowtown captain Winter, now playing in the midfield, celebrating his 100th game for the team with a try which sealed a deserved victory.
Fullback Kane Dodds topped off an impeccable kicking display with one last penalty.
Final score 27-11.
With one more game of the round robin to go, this win assures Arrowtown of a semifinal spot, while Wakatipu looks certain to miss the finals.
Both teams take a break from the Central competition this week as the Otago Country-Wide competition resumes.
Arrowtown travels to play Owaka and Wakatipu hosts Toko.
