There is nothing like a good local rugby derby to stir the blood, and they do not come better than when Arrowtown and Wakatipu go head-to-head for the prized White Horse Trophy in the Central Otago premier club competition.
Wakatipu are proudly in possession of the trophy after winning it off the seemingly unbeatable Upper Clutha at Wanaka last season, and are defending it this year on the Queenstown Recreation Ground against Arrowtown and Alexandra.
Many Wakatipu fans who attended the Arrowtown contest last season sweated through the second half as the Arrowtown forwards applied relentless pressure.
Down 10-13, Arrowtown camped in the Wakatipu 22m for 20 minutes, but without managing a score.
Finally, with time virtually up, Wakatipu’s Rube Peina slotted his fourth goal of the afternoon for a 16-10 victory.
"Thank goodness we had Rube," said Wakatipu’s frazzled coach Jordan Manihera.
Peina is still an essential member of the Wakatipu lineup and has kicked 10 goals in his team’s two clear-cut victories, over Alexandra and Matakanui Combined, this season.
It is not easy to predict how Arrowtown will perform tomorrow.
After running riot against Matakanui Combined, scoring 10 tries, they were outclassed by Upper Clutha at Wanaka before staging a dramatic late comeback against Alexandra, when three tries in 15 minutes brought them back from 22-0 down to 25-21. Arrowtown have won one and drawn one of their last 10 clashes with Wakatipu.
But if they can produce that kind of form on Saturday, watch out Wakatipu.
Wakatipu welcome back Logan Beggs, who has been overseas. He will start at fullback or first five.
Cromwell are sitting forlornly in sixth place after three defeats, but should remedy that against bottom-placed Matakanui Combined at home.
Cromwell managed four converted tries at Wanaka last Saturday, which sounds impressive until you realise their opponents ran in nine.
Cromwell stalwarts cannot recall the last occasion their premiers conceded that many tries in one afternoon.
In what shapes as an exciting contest, Alexandra will take on Maniototo at Molyneux Park. Maniototo are coming off a bye after walloping Cromwell 40-12, while Alexandra showed plenty of class in defeating Arrowtown.
Probably the most significant question to ask is whether Maniototo have a match-winning individual to equal Alexandra’s skipper Tyler Ford, who was awesome against Arrowtown.
But Maniototo have a superstar themselves in Doug Smith, which should make for an enthralling contest.
