Starting as if they were all jet-lagged from the 90-minute drive through from Ranfurly, the Maggots botched several early try-scoring opportunities and found themselves 21-7 down after 23 minutes against a hyped-up Arrowtown team.
If that pattern had continued, Cromwell could have sneaked into the playoffs with a solitary bonus point from their game against Upper Clutha.
However, inspired by fullback Doug Smith, who would go on to score 18 points, including two stunning tries, Maniototo resurrected their game in spectacular fashion.
They went to halftime trailing just 19-21, then dominated the entire second half in which they scored 22 points to Arrowtown’s none, winning 43-21.
Alarmingly, however, the referee called the game off five minutes early after Maniototo’s replacement forward Hayden Becker suffered a painful back injury.
He was not moved until an ambulance arrived nearly 40 minutes later when he was transferred to Frankton Hospital where he was treated for a pinched nerve.
Maniototo will now take on front-runners Upper Clutha in a semifinal at Wanaka next Saturday, having fully extended them in their White Horse Trophy challenge early in the season.
Upper Clutha had to work overtime to beat Cromwell 31-26, their 11th win from 12 outings, with coach Alex Dickson concerned at the number of bruised bodies he identified in the dressing room afterwards.
The most bruised individual, who is now in a race against time for the semifinal, is lock and captain Lachlan Garrick.
Welsh winger Thomas Jarman scored two tries for Upper Clutha, giving him 11 for the season, while prop Ben McKeich dotted down for his eighth try, and Brady Kingan scored 11 points, extending his season’s aggregate to 135.
In the game of little consequence at Molyneux Park, Wakatipu dealt to Alexandra 27-0, scoring five tries.
They confront each other again on Saturday, this time at Queenstown.
While Saturday’s result means Wakatipu will go into that contest a hot favourite, it is worth recalling that Alexandra won their semifinal and final last season against opponents (Cromwell and Upper Clutha) who had dealt to them earlier in the season.
By Bob Howitt
