The Wakatipu Rugby Club’s got a not-so-secret weapon up its sleeve for Saturday’s White Horse Cup challenge — its ‘bomb squad’.
Their reserves who came on in the second half against Maniototo in Queenstown last Saturday turned around a 14-10 halftime deficit into a fulltime score of 28-14.
"The role of the bench is so important in modern-day rugby, it’s the boys that are on at the end that are going to make the difference, not the ones who started, necessarily," coach Tom Cunningham says.
Wakatipu, whose only loss this season came against Cromwell, play an Upper Clutha whose only loss — just last Saturday — was also against Cromwell.
Asked if that’ll only make Upper Clutha more determined, Cunningham says "we could look at it two ways, because it shows they’re not invincible".
"And we know where we went wrong against Cromwell, so if we can rectify those, I’m taking that as a positive."
He’s convinced his team have the personnel to lift the cup this Saturday, "it’s just whether we all come out guns firing on all cylinders".
Meanwhile, he says loosie Tom Ria, who brought up his 100th game for Wakatipu on Saturday, "sums up club rugby for me".
"He’s just a real ambassador of the club, and we’re so proud of him and stoked he’s got 100 games."
Ria also marked his milestone with his first try of the season.
Cunningham: "We’ll show him in analysis the guy outside him definitely had a bit more space, but we’ll let him off as it was his 100th game, I reckon."
• This Saturday, Wakatipu v Upper Clutha, Wānaka Domain, 2.30pm; Arrowtown v Matakanui Combined, Omakau, 2.30pm
