Sleet, snow and a bitterly cold wind all made for a hostile environment that Maniototo took full advantage of as it dominated from the start to overwhelm Arrowtown 51-9.
Arrowtown looked solid and composed early on but could not stop the Maniototo forwards, led by All Black Andrew Hore, eating up metres on attack.
The host had its first 7-pointer within the first 10 minutes but Arrowtown fought back with a couple of penalties, converted by the accurate boot of young Kane Dodds, who kicked superbly all game.
The game was evenly contested for most of the first half although there were definite warning signs as Arrowtown struggled to contain the Maniototo team up the middle and around the ruck, and it was not long before another bust from Hore led to its next try.
Towards the end of the first half, Arrowtown came back at the hosts with another three points and Arrowtown would have been happy to turn with the wind at its back only 15-9 down. But as quick as you like, Maniototo had broken the Arrowtown defence open again, scoring right on the half-time whistle.
You could not fault its try-line commitment however, holding up Maniototo scoring attempts on many occasions.
But the weight of possession and territory eventually told and a procession of tries to Maniototo took the game out of reach.
The little things just were not happening for Arrowtown and even when it did threaten the Maniototo line, a quick turnover saw the homeside sprinting away to score at the other end, much to the delight of the Maniototo supporters.
In the end, Arrowtown had no answer to the power and accuracy of a team that had completely dominated the Central Otago competition, going through the season unbeaten.
In a cruel twist of fate, Arrowtown plays the same opposition this Saturday and will have to pick itself up for a return trip to Ranfurly to play the semifinal of the Otago Country Wide Championship.
It can only improve.
