Arrowtown's timely return to form
Wakatipu Premiers hooker Thomas Hulsman, pictured in action against Matakanui Combined recently, is among a group of young players the team's successfully blooded this season. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Following a convincing away win over Cromwell last weekend, the Arrowtown rugby side's fizzing for this Saturday's home-ground 'Battle of the Basin' game against Wakatipu.
Arrowtown beat Cromwell 29-7 to clinch just their second win of the year after their season-opening thrashing of Matakanui Combined in March.
It also came after the teams had drawn their first-round fixture.
"The boys showed a bit of grit on Saturday," says captain Ryan Egerton, who didn't play due to a "buggered" knee.
"She was one of the better 23-man performances I've seen from the Arrowtown Bulls.
"Everyone that came on from the bench played a good role and, yeah, we scored some pretty good meat pies, to be fair."
Coming after a deflating loss to Alexandra, "it's definitely given the boys a bit of confidence," Egerton adds.
"We definitely needed it for morale, because, yeah, the boys were hurting after loss after loss."
He was also expecting the prospect of a Battle of the Basin game to provide "a bit of fizz" at training this week.
"I'm sure we'll be up for it, and hopefully we can get a heap of people down at the Jack Reid and put on a good show."
Wakatipu Premiers coach Jordan Manihera, whose team touched up Arrowtown 48-19 in the first round, says he's pleased to hear of Arrowtown's good result "through the gorge", and certainly won't be taking them for granted despite their 7-2 win-loss record this season.
"It's a great rivalry to have, and how the comp's been this year, anything can happen if one team turns up and plays better than their opposite number on the day.
"So we're treating this game, as we do every week, with some good preparation.
"We're back to a full contingent, so back to getting the old migraine with selections, but, you know, it's a good problem to have, so we're really looking forward to ripping into it."
Manihera's also hoping for good ground conditions after playing on a heavy track at the Queenstown Rec Ground these past two Saturdays — Waka last weekend beat Maniototo 29-13, but only after upping their intensity over the final 20 minutes.
They're deliberately bringing some experienced players like Don Lolo and Paulie Tuala off the bench, the coach says.
"We've kind of found we were staying in the fight for a good 50 to 60 minutes every game, but then we're just sort of losing a bit of composure and experience towards the end."
With Wakatipu third on the table, one point behind Alexandra, and with just two rounds to go after this weekend, expect them to be chasing a bonus point win this Saturday to try to nail down a home semifinal.
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