After taking a 40-22 drubbing from Arrowtown the week before, which led to Cromwell dropping out of the top four in the Central Otago premier club competition for the first time since 2016, captain Stefan Blakeborough said he and his players needed to "go away and look at ourselves".
Given that their next match was against the defending champions Alexandra, immense pressure was on them.
It is in those challenging situations that champion teams respond, and Cromwell — winners in 2020 and 2021, beaten finalists in 2022 and beaten semi-finalists last season — did so quite magnificently in the "duck-shooting derby" at Anderson Park on Thursday night, winning 26-5.
It was all thanks to the Cromwell forwards, who monstered the Alexandra eight, particularly in the second half.
In almost identical circumstances, Alexandra came unstuck in this contest in similar icy conditions under lights 12 months earlier.
On Thursday they came out full of energy, taking the game to Cromwell. They scored one try, narrowly missed two others and for probably 30 minutes operated like the team most likely to succeed.
But steadily the Cromwell forwards, superbly inspired by hooker Jackson Clark — he who had demonstrated rare talent when deployed to first-five in one game last season — began to exert control.
A converted try on the tick of halftime gave Cromwell a 7-5 lead, which became 26-5 by fulltime, largely thanks to Cromwell’s control at scrum time, for which Jackson and his brother, Tyson, and Alex Chubb were responsible.
There was also a massive input from locks Blakeborough and Regan Hucklebridge, flanker Jack Dunshea and replacement loosie Hayden Hopgood, while Rhys Harrold directed operations sweetly from first-five.
Just how far Cromwell have rebounded will become apparent when they meet the runaway leaders Upper Clutha at Anderson Park on Saturday.
Upper Clutha demolished Arrowtown 50-0 under lights at Wanaka on Thursday, scoring eight tries in extending their lead in the competition to six points.
Coach Alex Dickson was quietly confident his team would produce a strong performance after coming off the bye, but admits he never thought they would hit 50.
"Everything we attempted came off", he said.
"We even scored a couple of long-range turnover tries. It was one of those nights."
The only disappointment was losing Jack Colburn with a torn calf muscle.
Being short of nine players did not stop Maniototo scoring a convincing 35-26 victory over Matakanui Combined at Ranfurly.
With Doug Smith contributing 20 points (from two tries and five conversions) Maniototo built a 35-7 lead before Matak Combined scored three late tries.
— Bob Howitt
