Although, it may be from laughter.
The first line of defence against the northern invaders will be a pack of parochial sheep on an East Taieri farm.
Pippa Lucas, of Silver Peaks Lodge, coloured the sheep with fleece-marking raddle on Wednesday night and released them in a paddock bordering State Highway 1 at East Taieri on her way to work at 7.30am yesterday.
''We're hoping that they'll scare the Hawkes Bay team when the come past the farm from the airport,'' she said.
It is not the first time the sheep have shown their true colours.
Ms Lucas (22) and friend Michael Natzke painted sheep in New Zealand, England, Italy, Argentina and Romania colours during the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
''They got lots of attention. We had people jumping the fence to take photos of them.''
The 2-year-old cross-bred wethers will have more at stake than most when the match kicks off.
''We'll probably eat them if Otago loses the shield,'' Ms Lucas' father, Silver Peaks Lodge farmer Gandhi Lucas, said.
Sunday's kickoff is 4.35pm.
