As if today’s ‘Battle of the Basin’ rugby clash between Wakatipu Premiers and Arrowtown isn’t enough to excite the players, both sides are also after their first win this season.
Wakatipu surprisingly lost their only game, to date, against Alexandra, while Arrowtown’s been soundly beaten by both Cromwell and, more surprisingly, Matakanui Combined.
Despite Arrowtown’s poor start, and the fact they haven’t beaten Wakatipu since 2018, new captain Ben Carr says his players are ‘‘fizzed up’’ for this afternoon’s game in Queenstown.
‘‘Everyone just can’t wait, we’re just going out there with everything.’’
Arrowtown-raised but Cromwell-based Carr, who’s played about 95 games for the club over the past seven years, says ‘‘we got injury-struck in that first week, and the following week we hardly managed to pull a team together, but we’ve got all the guys back, as far as I’m aware’’.
‘‘We’ve got some young guys, they played a game or so last year but now they’re really thrown in the deep end … and they’re going good.’’
They’ve also welcomed back front-rowers Joji Ravula and Matt Flower after a year or so away.
Like his counterpart, Waka’s new captain Rube Peina (below) says ‘‘it’s pretty easy to get up for this game, I don’t think you need any extra motivation’’.
‘‘These new young guys probably don’t know, as such, what it means — they’ll learn pretty quick.’’
Wakatipu’s ‘player of the year’ last season, Peina admits their season-opener ‘‘wasn’t an ideal performance, but we can’t take away much from Alex, they deserved to win’’.
‘‘We didn’t show up, and that’s what happens when you don’t front up.’’
His team then had a bye before the comp broke for Easter — ‘‘hopefully that two weeks’ [break] is going to do us wonders’’.
As defending champs, Peina accepts his team will have a target on their back this season.
‘‘I think it’s going to be tough.
‘‘We’ve lost a few key players, some of the older boys who’ve been around for a few years, but at the end of the day you’ve just got to work with what you’ve got.’’
Kick-off’s 2.30pm at the Rec Ground.
